A Dowelltown man, trying to outrun a state trooper in a December 2012 pursuit, was sentenced in DeKalb County Criminal Court on Friday, February 21 after pleading guilty to attempted initiation of a process to manufacture methamphetamine and tampering with evidence.
34 year old Jessie Comer Harris received a sentence of fifteen years to serve at 30% before his release eligibility date in the meth case and five years to serve at 30% on the tampering charge. The sentences are to run consecutively or back to back with each other for a total of twenty years but concurrently with a term he is already serving in another case. Other charges against him were nollied by the court. Harris was given jail credit of 421 days.
Harris was found with meth lab components after he ran his car off the Old Snow Hill Road and he began eating the marijuana he had on him trying to get rid of that evidence.
Trooper Dewaine Jennings of the Tennessee Highway Patrol told WJLE that the incident started around 7:10 p.m. on Thursday, December 27, 2012 after he stopped Harris’ car for erratic driving, weaving, and suspicion of driving under the influence. ” I tried to stop a 2000 Dodge Neon on Highway 70 west just west of DeKalb Market,” said Trooper Jennings. “The car pulled over like any other traffic stop. I made a passenger side approach, opened the passenger door, and made eye contact with the driver. He pulls it down in drive and takes off at a high rate of speed, jerking the door out of my hand. At that point I ran back to my patrol car and gave pursuit to chase after him. We go Highway 70 west a short distance. He turned left over to the Old Snow Hill Road. I radioed DeKalb County and advised them that I was in pursuit down the Old Snow Hill Road. The sheriff was in the area along with Officer Jeremy Taylor. The sheriff set up at the end of old Snow Hill Road in the Dry Creek area. He (Harris) saw the blue lights I guess and figured something was up so he drove to the right off the roadway (at the foot of the hill) out into a field, crashed into a creek, and almost overturned the vehicle. At that point, he jumped out of the vehicle and fled on foot. I chased him on foot through the creek and up into a wooded area around the creek where I found him laying down in the weeds and hiding. He was eating his marijuana, trying to get rid of the evidence. I went back and found a bag that he had pitched out in the creek that contained numerous items used to manufacture and process methamphetamine,” said Trooper Jennings.
Harris was not injured and refused treatment by EMS. He was arrested and taken to the jail for booking.
Archived News & Obituaries