A homeless man is now sleeping and eating in jail after authorities caught him reportedly driving 110 miles per hour in a 45-mph zone with a young child and dog in the car, driving on the wrong side of the road, and committing quite a few other traffic and obstruction-related offenses.
Cory Jensen, 35, is being held without bond in jail at Putnam County Sheriff’s Office facing charges of cruelty to children – 2nd degree (felony), fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer (felony), cruelty to animals, willful obstruction of law enforcement officers (misdemeanor), driving on the wrong side of the road, driving without a valid license (misdemeanor), failure to maintain lane, passing in a no-passing zone, reckless driving, speeding in a construction zone 110/45mph, and driving too fast for conditions, according to jail reports.
The chase started a little before 1 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 3, when Eatonton Police Department Officer Nathan Crooks saw a red 2006 Cadillac SUV come off of U.S. Route 129 at the Walmart intersection and turn left onto U.S. 441/Eatonton Bypass.
Crooks noticed the vehicle cross over the center lines as it continued north, so he began to follow and observe the vehicle, according to the incident report.
The driver of the SUV, later identified as Jensen, turned onto New Glenwood Springs Road.
“He began picking up speed and then turned onto Oak Street, where he disappeared out of sight,” Crooks said in his report.
A few moments later, Crooks saw the SUV back on U.S. Hwy. 441 North, where Crooks said he paced the vehicle at speeds of 90-plus mph. Crooks notified the police dispatcher that he was attempting to pull over the vehicle, which had a Florida license plate. But the driver obviously had a different plan and picked up speed and took off.
Crooks notified EPD Officer Jeremy McClure about the situation, and McClure waited at the intersection of Imperial Mill Road and U.S. 441 and joined the chase as it sped past him, northbound on the bypass.
“We continued into the construction zone on 441 where I observed the vehicle to be traveling at 110-plus mph, both visually and using my in-car speedometer,” McClure said in his report.
As the pursuit left the city limits, Putnam County Sheriff’s Office’s Sgt. Tyler Woodard joined them. They crossed the county line and headed into Morgan County, where the opposing lanes of the highway are divided with a grass median between them.
“Jensen [went] left into the southbound lanes of travel, continuing to drive north in the wrong lanes of travel,” McClure reported.
Crooks followed Jensen into the southbound lanes, while McClure and Woodard pursued parallel to them in the northbound lanes.
Due to the danger of oncoming traffic, Crooks moved back to the northbound lanes at the next intersection, according to both officers’ reports. Meanwhile, Jensen, still going the wrong way in the southbound lane, almost struck the vehicle of a Morgan County Sheriff’s Office deputy who was joining the pursuit.
After traveling farther in the southbound lanes, Jensen drove over the grass divider to get into the correct lanes of travel.
That was around 2950-3000 Eatonton Road in Morgan County, according to McClure’s report, which is near the former microcar museum. However, the move caused Jensen to lose control of his SUV and go off the right side of the road at a high rate of speed, hit a road sign, go down a ditch, and crash into a tree.
McClure reportedly pulled in behind the crashed SUV, got out of his patrol car, and pulled out his pistol.
At the same time, Jensen got out of his SUV and ran away along the tree line toward Kitchin Road. McClure ran after him, and both men tripped and fell to the ground. They got up, and the foot chase continued up the hill, but ended at Kitchin Road, where “Sgt. Woodard …and a Morgan County Deputy had Jenson prone (on the ground) and were trying to place him into cuffs. At this point, Jensen had become compliant with our commands,” McClure said.
Meanwhile, Crooks and other MCSO deputies were at the crashed Cadillac checking on the welfare of Jensen’s passengers— Jensen’s girlfriend, her six-year-old daughter, and a dog. The child had been safely secured in an appropriate child car seat during the chase and crash, but there was some swelling on her upper lip. The girlfriend complained of bruising from the seat belt.
Both were taken by ambulance to Morgan County Medical Center for treatment. The dog was taken to Morgan County Animal Control Services.
After being checked over by Morgan County EMS personnel, Jensen was cleared to be taken to the Eatonton Police Department.
While en route, Jensen complained of injuring his ankle when he fell. The officers noticed it was swollen, so he was first taken to Putnam General Hospital for treatment. He was then booked into Putnam County jail on the aforementioned charges.
McClure and Woodard searched the area of the crash and pursuit to see if Jensen had thrown out anything during the foot chase, but found nothing. When they searched the crashed SUV, they discovered nothing but clothes and home goods, according to McClure’s report.
Jensen’s girlfriend told them she and Jensen were leaving Florida to start a new life in Tennessee. She said they were currently homeless, and the reason Jensen fled from them was that he did not have a valid license.