A Shady Dale man faces a litany of charges after he reportedly tried to avoid prison time by driving over 120 mph to flee from police.
According to Putnam County Jail records, Michael Daimein-Scot Parr, 19, was arrested on Dec. 11 and is being held without bond on charges of fleeing or attempting to elude police officers, speeding 120 in a 55, speeding 80 in a 55, failure to drive within a single lane, driving too fast for conditions, reckless driving, concealing or misrepresenting vehicle tag, violation of adult restraint seat belt law, passing in a no-passing zone, failure to use lane direction control signals, willful obstruction of law enforcement officers, possession and use of drug-related objects, and wanted person for failure to appear in Jasper County.
Eatonton Police Department Officer Chris Detweiler was running speed-check radar on U.S. Hwy. 441 around noon on Wednesday, Dec. 11, when he clocked a black 2011 Chevrolet Camaro doing 80 mph in a 55-mph zone.
According to his incident report, Detweiler pulled his patrol vehicle into the roadway behind the Camaro and turned on his blue lights to get the driver to stop. However, the driver, later identified as Parr, did not slow down at all and made a right turn onto State Route 16.
“I noticed the back end of the Camaro lose traction and begin to fishtail, nearly losing control, and the Camaro then accelerated to a high rate of speed, disregarding my (blue) lights to signal the driver to pull over,” Detweiler wrote in his report. “I then notified dispatch that the driver of the Camaro had initiated a pursuit.”
As the chase ensued on State Route 16 over the Gregory Bridge, the speeds reached 128 mph, passing “multiple vehicles at a very high rate of speed.”
“The driver showed a total disregard for other motorists’ safety as (he) operated the vehicle recklessly and carelessly,” Detweiler reveals in his report. “But due to good visibility and light traffic on the roadway at the time, I could safely pursue and maintain a visual on the vehicle.”
The pursuit continued as the Camaro turned onto Georgia Highway 142, where Parr attempted to turn onto Beaver Dam Road.
“As I got closer to the intersection of Beaver Dam Road, I observed the Camaro had crashed into multiple pine trees, and the driver was climbing out of the passenger door due to the driver’s door being pinned shut by a tree,” Detweiler says in his report.
A foot chase ensued and went through several residential yards on the 100 block of Beaver Dam Road, with the fugitive ignoring the officer’s verbal commands to stop running. According to the report, Parr ran up the stairs to the front porch of one house, jumped over the porch rail back to the ground, landed on his feet, put his up hands, and fell to his knees.
As Detweiler pushed Parr to the ground, the homeowner heard the officer’s commands and came outside and pinned Parr’s legs to the ground as Detweiler placed him in handcuffs.
Detweiler called Putnam County EMS to notice “a fresh bruise on (Parr’s) left eye” from crashing into the trees. After being checked for injuries, Parr refused to be taken to the hospital and was taken to the Eatonton Police Department.
A search of the Camaro revealed a glass pipe with marijuana shavings in it. According to Detweiler's report, the tag on the car was registered to a blue Hyundai Elantra instead of the black Camaro. A check with the Georgia Crime Information Center revealed Parr was wanted in Jasper County for failure to appear. Parr told Detweiler he was not aware of the warrant from Jasper County.
“He stated that he fled from me due to him being in the drug accountability court and believed he would be going to prison for two years if he received any kind of criminal charge,” Detweiler wrote in his report. “Michael continued apologizing and understood that his decision to flee was wrong and he should have just pulled over.”
According to Police Chief Howell Cardwell, the Camaro was registered to another person in Covington, whom Eatonton officers have not been able to locate.