Patrol car overturns in high-speed chase

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A Fulton County Sheriff’s Office patrol car overturned in a dry creek bed, along with a vehicle being pursued, following a high-speed chase on U.S. Highway 62/412 east of Salem Wednesday evening.

Fulton County Sheriff Al Roork says the pursuit began following a call to 9-1-1 at 7:45 advising of a bad driver. As the vehicle entered Salem city limits, it was stopped by Patrolman James Cantrell at the intersection of Hwys. 9 and U.S. 62/412. A check with the National Crime Information Center database indicated the vehicle had been reported stolen in Springfield.

When officer Cantrell asked the driver, 29-year-old Rodney Mayhand of Birmingham, Alabama, to step out of the car, Mayhand put the vehicle in gear to flee. Cantrell stuck his head into the car attempting to grab the keys and was drug a short distance.

Mayhand fled east on U.S. Highway 62/412 at speeds of over 100 miles per hour, at times completely in the oncoming lane.

Fulton County Deputy Dallas Montgomery was unsuccessful in deploying spike strips near Agnos in an attempt to stop the fleeing vehicle.

The deputy accelerated his patrol car in an effort to box the fleeing vehicle between his unit and Patrolman Cantrell’s. Montgomery advised he had reached about 80 miles per hour when Mayhand, traveling in excess of 100 miles per hour, rammed his vehicle in the rear. The impact spun the deputy’s patrol car around, with it traveling several hundred feet east and across the highway into a dry creek bed where it overturned.

Mayhand’s vehicle crashed in the same dry creek bed just past the patrol car.

Patrolman Cantrell was able to arrest Mayhand when he exited his vehicle.

Deputy Montgomery was transported to the Fulton County Hospital by ambulance. Mayhand was flown to White River Medical Center in Batesville by helicopter. Both were treated and released.

Mayhand is incarcerated in the Fulton County jail facing numerous charges, including felony assault on a police officer. He is wanted by Alabama law enforcement on felony charges and has a nationwide extradition.

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