Hit-and-run arrest

By Abby Morris
Star Staff
amorris@starhq.com

   An 18-year-old man was arrested and charged with multiple offenses after he fled the scene of an accident when he crashed his vehicle during a police chase.
   Christopher Dwight Stevens, of 932 Rittertown Rd., was arrested shortly before midnight on Saturday by Carter County Sheriff's Department Deputy Al Meehan and charged with felony evading arrest, fourth offense driving on a suspended license, criminal impersonation, leaving the scene of an accident with injuries, possession of Schedule IV narcotics and possession of Schedule VI narcotics. He was also served with two outstanding capiases charging him with failure to appear in court.
   According to reports, Meehan was on patrol in Hampton when he observed a red Pontiac leaving the parking lot of McDonalds at a high rate of speed and enter the highway without stopping, headed east on First Avenue.
   At that time, the officer activated the emergency lights on the vehicle and began following the vehicle as it turned onto Swimming Pool Road. "(Stevens) was driving at a speed in excess of 75 miles per hour when (I) observed the vehicle crash into a trailer at 104 Carl Smith Road," Meehan states in his report. "By the time (I) arrived at the scene, the occupants of the vehicle ran southeast on Carl Smith Road."
   Witnesses at the scene advised the officer that one of the two male occupants of the vehicle had ran into a nearby trailer. Inside the home, Meehan located a 15-year-old juvenile who had been a passenger in the vehicle. He had sustained a deep laceration to his chin and had other cuts and contusions, according to Meehan's report.
   The juvenile, in the presence of his parents, advised the officer that Stevens had been the driver of the vehicle.
   Just a few minutes later, Meehan was advised by the 911 Communications Center that Stevens was leaving a residence also on Carl Smith Road in a white Dodge pickup. Meehan located the pickup at the McDonalds in Hampton and Stevens was a passenger in the vehicle according to Meehan's report.
   At first, Stevens advised the officer that he was not Stevens but his identity was then confirmed. During a search of Steven's person subsequent to his arrest, Meehan located two plastic bags of marijuana and a prescription pill identified only as being a Schedule IV narcotic.
   Stevens had sustained some minor cuts as a result of the accident.