Miss. man jailed for leaving scene of crash with injury
By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
A Mississippi man who ran the stop sign at the junction of North Main and Liberty streets on Christmas Eve, crashed into another vehicle and fled the scene immediately afterward was eventually located and arrested by Atmore police and now faces five charges, including a felony.
Atmore Police Department Sgt. Darrell McMann reported that officers were sent to the scene around 3:45 p.m. in response to a report of a traffic accident. A passenger in the car that was hit suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
The first-arriving officer was informed by a witness that the vehicle which caused the wreck left the scene almost immediately after the collision. Witnesses also provided a description of the vehicle and the direction in which the driver fled. Police located the car and pulled the driver over a few minutes later near Sunset Drive.
Police reports show that Larry Terrell Taylor, 43, of Meridian, Mississippi showed “signs of impairment,” and was asked if he would consent to a series of standardized field sobriety tests. Taylor reportedly gave his consent, failed the tests and was placed under arrest.
He was released on bond December 29 from the Escambia County Detention Center (ECDC), where he had been held on one count each of leaving the scene of an accident with injury, which is a Class C felony under Alabama law, driving under the influence of alcohol, running a stop sign, driving while license is suspended or revoked, and violation of the state’s open container statute.
Other felony arrests during the period December 21-29 include the following:
*Atmore police arrested a McDavid, Fla. man December 22 on a felony drug possession charge.
Reports show that 37-year-old Joshua Roeder was in possession of 6.3 grams of methamphetamine and had a glass pipe with meth residue in it when he was arrested in the 200 block of North Main Street.
Roeder remained in the ECDC Friday, December 29.
*A 26-year-old Atmore man, Scottie Bernard Hayward McNeal, was arrested December 24 on an outstanding warrant from the county sheriff’s office for first-degree theft of property.
Theft in the first degree is a Class B felony that occurs when the value of property stolen is $2,500 or more.
No further details of the arrest were available. McNeal remained in the county jail Friday afternoon, December 29.