By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
A member of this year’s Escambia County High School football team faces several charges after he struck an officer with a 4-wheeler while trying to avoid arrest last Wednesday, December 18.
According to police reports, the officer was driving on Sunset Drive when he met a four-wheeler traveling in the opposite direction. He turned his marked police vehicle around and attempted a traffic stop due to numerous citizen complaints about four-wheelers being driven recklessly on the roadway in that area.
The operator of the four-wheeler, 18-year-old Dallas Owens, accelerated at a high rate of speed through traffic and headed away from the officer’s vehicle.
The officer decided not to pursue Owens due to the inherent danger of pursuing all-terrain vehicles, but a few minutes later additional officers saw Owens stopped off the roadway next to Brushy Creek.
As the officers approached Owens on foot they began giving him verbal commands. The 18-year-old ignored them, got back onto the four-wheeler and headed straight for one of the officers, striking him and causing minor injuries.
Owens, a senior defensive back and wide receiver for the Blue Devils, was eventually removed from the four-wheeler and taken into custody. He was charged with second-degree assault (a Class C felony), as well as resisting arrest, reckless driving and attempting to elude.
He was released from the county jail on Friday, December 20, although he was still listed Saturday morning on the ECDC’s inmate roster.