John Lewis (Photo courtesy of Baxter County Sheriff’s Office)
A Gassville man was recently declared a fugitive after he missed an appearance in Baxter County Circuit Court for allegedly leading officers from two agencies on a single high-speed chase. Fifty-seven-year-old John Lewis led another chase Sunday before being taken into custody and booked into the Baxter County Detention Center.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a deputy was traveling behind a vehicle was a disabled license plate and reportedly knew it matched the description of the vehicle Lewis was known to be operating. The vehicle was on Arkansas Highway 5 South and crossed the center line as it was turning right onto Old Tracy. The driver reportedly refused when the deputy attempted to initiate a traffic stop.
The vehicle traveled on Old Tracy Road at speeds from 60 to 90 miles per hour on both sides of the road and passed one vehicle. It then drove up to Highway 5, turned left without coming to a complete stop and continued at speeds of 60 to 80 miles per hour. The vehicle turned onto several more roads and traveled all over the roadway, and it almost struck two vehicles head-on when it was back on Highway 5.
The vehicle turned right at the Y in Salesville and continued on Highway 5 before slamming the brakes, causing the deputy’s vehicle to strike its rear. The suspect vehicle was reportedly traveling on the wrong side of the road, and the deputy drove up to its passenger side, discovered Lewis was the driver and advised him to pull over. Lewis slowed down enough for the deputy to box him in with his patrol vehicle.
Two more deputies arrived as Lewis was given commands to exit the vehicle. One deputy reportedly deployed his Taser and Lewis was taken into custody without any injuries. As he was placed in the patrol vehicle, Lewis said he thought he was having a heart attack. Baxter Health ambulance personnel arrived on the scene, evaluated Lewis and cleared him to be transported to the Baxter County Detention Center.
The reporting deputy took inventory on the vehicle and discoverd an empty pill bottle and a rubber hose both contained a white residue. Lewis is expected to face additional charges.
PREVIOUS INCIDENTS
Lewis is no stranger to hitting the gas instead of the brakes when he sees blue lights behind him.
He has been pursued while driving various conveyances, including a motorcycle, SUV and pickup trucks. It is not unusual for him to continue some chases on foot after his vehicle becomes disabled, or if he finds himself with no options to continue running from the police in a vehicle.
His current charges include fleeing in a vehicle with substantial danger of causing death or serious injury, possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia, reckless driving and l1 traffic offenses.
The chase began April 20 when a Mountain Home police officer reported seeing a Dodge Durango not using turn signals. The officer then reported that the driver was hiding his face behind his arm.
The vehicle then ran a stop sign and the officer turned on his emergency lights to signal the driver to pull over.
But the driver, later identified as Lewis, did not stop and began traveling at a high rate of speed. During the chase, Lewis was reported to have forced multiple vehicles to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
Lewis got onto State Highway 5 North and the pursuit by the Mountain Home officer was terminated in the vicinity of Butler Furniture Company because of the weather and heavy volume of traffic.
After being informed MHPD had terminated the pursuit in the city, a Baxter County Sheriff’s Deputy saw the suspect vehicle pull into a driveway and go around to the rear of a vacant house located in an area along County Road 13.
The deputy drove behind Lewis’ vehicle and activated his emergency lights. Lewis accelerated, drove across the property, into a ditch and onto County Road 13.
Because of the damage sustained when Lewis drove the Durango through the ditch, it was continuously slowing down. At one point, it was reported the chase had slowed to an eight-mile-an-hour crawl.
While the speed of the chase had been reduced, Lewis was reported to have continued putting other motorists in danger by driving his vehicle down the middle of the road causing oncoming traffic to exit the roadway to avoid a collision.
An Arkansas State Police trooper was eventually able to get in front of Lewis’ vehicle and stop it.
Lewis was taken into custody and officers searched the Durango. They found seven Alprazolam pills, a plastic bag containing a white power residue field-testing positive for methamphetamine and a set of digital scales.
The first criminal case opened on Lewis goes back to 1998.
In late 2020, Lewis rammed his motorcycle into a Baxter County Sheriff’s patrol car in an effort to avoid being arrested. He was reported to have suffered a broken leg and arm from the crash.
He had syringes in his pocket, one of which Lewis said was loaded with methamphetamine.
In December 2019, a Mountain Home police officer got behind Lewis who was driving a black Ford Pickup.
The officer reported the vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed and running multiple stop signs until pulling into the Ozark Shopping Center parking lot.
Lewis jumped out of the vehicle and ran toward what was then the Mountain Home Motel. He was arrested soon after.
Many of Lewis’ arrests began as vehicle chases and ended up with drugs and drug paraphernalia being found.
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