A short pursuit by police ended with a long list of charges against a Carter County man.
Gary Martin Murphy, 30, was arrested Aug. 28 by Carter County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Brian Smithpeters and charged with fifth offense driving under the influence, fifth offense driving on a revoked license, evading arrest, possession of Schedule IV drugs, violation of financial responsibility and failure to stop at a stop sign.
Smithpeters said in his report on the incident he was responding to assist CCSD Deputy Jason Mosier, who had been dispatched to a motor vehicle accident on Reynolds Road, when he encountered a vehicle driven by Murphy. Smithpeters said the vehicle, a white Chevrolet Camaro, was traveling at a high rate of speed on Reynolds Road, ran a stop sign and turned onto Hilton Hill Road.
“Deputy Mosier then advised me that a white Camaro had almost hit him on Reynolds Road and Deputy Mosier identified the driver as Gary Murphy,” Smithpeters said, adding he caught up to the vehicle at 189 Hilton Hill Road. “The vehicle turned into the driveway and continued into the back yard, at which time the vehicle did a 180 degree turn.”
Smithpeters said the driver then exited the vehicle and began to flee on foot despite being given several commands by the officer to stop running.
“The male subject continued to run around a swimming pool and then jumped a fence on the property of 426 Highway 400,” Smithpeters said, adding he was able to catch up with the man, who he identified as Murphy, and take him into custody.
Smithpeters said Murphy had the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his person and “performed poorly” on field sobriety tests. The officer said Murphy said he had consumed “two beers.”
After running a check on the status of Murphy’s driver’s license, Smithpeters said the driving history showed Murphy had four previous DUI charges and four previous driving on a revoked license charges.
During a routine inventory of the vehicle before towing, Smithpeters said he found an open beer can in the floor board which he said was “cold to the touch” and noted some of the can’s contents had spilled in the floor.
Smithpeters said Murphy was transported to a local hospital for a blood alcohol content test and then taken to the Carter County Detention Center. He said that while Murphy was being processed for booking, corrections staff located a cellophane package in Murphy’s pocket which contained 15 pills that were tentatively identified as Valium.
Murphy is currently being held in the Detention Center and is scheduled to appear in General Sessions Court on Oct. 24.