A 41 year old man who led a sheriff’s deputy on a slow speed pursuit on Short Mountain Highway before going off the road in a ditch on Sunday, August 18 has been arrested for a third offense of driving under the influence.
Sheriff Patrick Ray said Robert Edward Knox of Foster Road, Smithville is also charged with reckless endangerment, felony evading arrest, and resisting arrest. His bond is $19,000. He was further issued citations for violation of the implied consent law, failure to maintain his lane of travel, Violation of the financial responsibility law (no insurance), and no registration on his vehicle.
According to Sheriff Ray, a deputy saw Knox driving on Highway 146 (Short Mountain Highway) and he appeared to be impaired. The officer turned on his emergency equipment and initiated a slow speed pursuit to get Knox to stop but he refused to pull over.
According to the deputy, Knox left the road several times, running up onto the sidewalk and then coming back onto the highway toward on-coming traffic almost forcing other vehicles off the road.
The pursuit continued for about four miles until Knox ran over a spike strip which had been put down on the highway by a Trooper of the Tennessee Highway Patrol. After some of his tires were flattened by the spike strip, Knox’s vehicle ran into a ditch and stopped.
After refusing to get out of the vehicle, Knox had to be forcibly removed.
The deputy noticed that Knox’s eyes were bloodshot and glossy. He was very incoherent and a white foam was coming from his mouth. Due to his level of intoxication, Knox was not able to perform field sobriety tasks and he could not understand the terms of the implied consent law. Because it was his third DUI offense, a search warrant was executed to obtain a blood draw.
DeKalb EMS took Knox to the hospital for medical treatment and he was arrested the following day on Monday, August 19.
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