MH man who often runs from police sentenced to prison

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Photo: James Lally

A Mountain Home man, who has shown his distaste for being arrested by running from officers, pled guilty to charges against him in two active criminal cases and was sentenced to six years in prison during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court last Thursday.

In one of the two cases, 36-year-old James Lally was arrested just after midnight Feb. 23 when a Cotter Police Department officer noticed a vehicle with no working registration light.

The officer initiated a stop at the Stash-N-Dash storage units. As soon as the vehicle came to a halt, a passenger — later identified as Lally — bailed out of the car and began running through the storage complex.

After losing sight of Lally, the officer drew his weapon and gave several commands for the fleeing man to stop. Lally fell to the ground at one point, but refused to comply with an order to stay down. He fell a second time and the officer said if Lally did not stay put, he would use his stun gun.

That threat brought the foot chase to a halt.

An AR-15 with 20 rounds in the magazine was found in the vehicle Lally had been riding in. As a convicted felon, Lally is not allowed to be in contact with firearms.

As a result of the traffic stop and attempt to escape from the officer, Lally was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and fleeing.

Lally also faced a parole violation. The female driver was charged with misdemeanor traffic violations.

In late July, Lally again attempted to run, after a vehicle in which he was a passenger was pulled over, this time by a Mountain Home Police Department (MHPD) officer. The stop took place July 25 at the intersection of East Ninth and South College. As soon as the vehicle came to a stop, Lally took off on foot. He was reported to have run across East Ninth Street with the MHPD officer in pursuit. Lally then circled back and jumped into the vehicle from which he had initially fled.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Lally started out in the front seat, jumped into the backseat, exited the driver’s side rear door and tried to take off on foot again.

He didn’t make it far on his second try and was taken into custody.

The police reported a juvenile was in the backseat leading to an endangering the welfare of a minor charge. A pink cloth containing a glass pipe coated with a white residue consistent with methamphetamine and a clear plastic bag containing a crystalline substance consistent with methamphetamine were found discarded along the route of the foot chase.

The driver, identified as Bonnie Peterson, told police Lally had the items in his possession when the car was pulled over.

In the second case, Lally was charged with possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, fleeing on foot and endangering the welfare of a minor.

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