By Shannon McFarlin WENK/WTPR News Director
Benton County, Tenn.—A Benton County man faces numerous charges after he led officers and a THP helicopter on a wild chase in speeds exceeding 90 to 100 mph—with a six month old baby in his car.
Joseph Curtis of Camden was arrested yesterday after a chase which began in Benton County and ended up in Carroll County. Benton County Sheriff Kenny Christopher told WENK/WTPR this afternoon that Curtis faces charges including possession of meth, being an habitual offender, wanton endangerment, child endangerment, felony evasion and more.
The chase began around 5 p.m. when Curtis took off when he spotted deputies. Christopher said, “He drove through the backwoods and got into the Natchez Trace Park area and there’s all kind of crooked roads up in there. He got up to 90-100 miles per hour and I told our guys to back off the pursuit and just watch and wait for him to come back on to the Interstate.”
Curtis did drive back on to the Interstate, then ending up on Hwy. 22 going in to Carroll County, Christopher said. “He was in the area near Yuma and drove off into the woods again, then he hit a logging trail and got stuck.”
About that time, a THP helicopter arrived and told deputies he was directly above the suspect.
Christopher said, “The pilot told us that our patrol cars were just three-fourths of a mile right behind him. Curtis grabbed something out of his car—the dope he had–and started running. The pilot sat the helicopter almost right on top of him. Curtis saw that and stopped running and came back to his car.”
When deputies arrived at the car, they found that Curtis had been driving with his girlfriend and their six-month-old baby in the car during the chase.
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