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A Pauls Valley teen is facing multiple charges after leading police on a highspeed chase on New Year’s Eve that wound through city streets and a field on the edge of town.
The pursuit started around 10:30 p.m. Dec. 31 near the 1100 block of West Grant Avenue (State Highway 19).
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case, Pauls Valley Police Chief Derrick Jolley was on patrol, traveling eastbound on West Grant Avenue, when he heard a “roaring engine” and felt his police vehicle rock from side to side as a maroon four-door Dodge Ram pickup passed him in the outside lane “at an extremely high rate of speed.”
Jolley turned on his lights and sirens and pursued the pickup.
According to the affidavit, the pickup appeared to come close to hitting another car traveling in the same direction as it traveled eastbound on Grant Avenue toward downtown Pauls Valley. The driver of the pickup, later identified as 19-year-old Dalton Brown, turned off the vehicle’s lights and was traveling fast enough to leave a dust cloud above the blacktop highway, according to Jolley.
The pickup drove through all four traffic lights along West Grant Avenue between Ash and Chickasaw Streets without slowing down as it continued to travel at “an exceptionally dangerous rate of speed” through the 25-mph zone.
Jolley’s statement said he slowed to near 75 mph as he approached the traffic lights and the pickup continued to pull away from him.
After crossing the railroad tracks, the pickup slowed enough to make a right turn onto North Pecan Street. As Jolley followed, he said he saw the pickup turn left onto Gertie Avenue, several blocks away. By the time Jolley made the turn on Gertie, the pickup was no longer in sight.
Suspecting the vehicle might be headed toward Gardner Street, which turns into County Road 1570 as it leaves the east side of town, Jolley turned that direction. A second Pauls Valley officer tried to get into position to deploy stop sticks at the intersection of East Avenue and Gardner Street but was not able to get the device in place before the pickup passed that intersection at a high rate of speed and with his lights still off.
Jolley followed, headed east on Gardner, and said he watched the pickup, about three-quarters of a mile ahead of him at that point, turn north onto County Road 3260 before losing sight of it near the intersection of 3260 and County Road 1560.
At that point Jolley discontinued the chase but continued in the direction the pickup had driven. As he turned west onto County Road 1560, headed back toward Highway 19, he spotted the pickup parked well off the north side of the road in a crop field.
Jolley reactivated his emergency lights and continued to pursue the pickup through the field. According to the affidavit, Brown eventually exited the field, headed back the way he had come, traveling east on County Road 1560.
By this time multiple officers had joined the pursuit and followed the pickup as Brown retraced his steps.
A Pauls Valley officer intercepted Brown near the intersection of County Road 3260 and County Road 1570. At that point, Brown stopped his pickup and was taken into custody. Two unopened cans of beer and a .22-caliber semi-automatic rifle were recovered from the cab of the pickup.
Brown told officers he had been dared by friends to try and get police officers to pursue him.
According to the affidavit, Jolley encountered a pickup matching the description of Brown’s twice prior to the pursuit during his patrol on Dec. 31.
The first occurred while Jolley was on another traffic stop near Grant Avenue and Ash Street. During that encounter, Jolley said he was speaking to the driver he had pulled over when he heard an engine rev and saw a dark-colored fourdoor Dodge Ram pickup accelerate past him headed westbound on Grant Avenue.
Shortly after that, Jolley said he was speaking to a motorist in a restaurant parking lot on West Grant Avenue near Interstate 35 when he watched a maroon-colored Dodge Ram pickup drive slowly past him. Unable to positively connect the two incidents, he chose not to engage the driver at that point.
Brown has been charged with two felony counts for eluding and possessing of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He also faces misdemeanor charges for possession of alcohol by a person under 21 and for injury to standing crops, in connection to an estimated $5,000 worth of damage to the freshly planted oat field Brown led officers through.