A high-speed chase in Batesville Monday led to two felony charges against an Independence County man.
According to the arrest affidavit, Batesville Police Department Narcotics Investigator Dillon Sallas received word a previously-convicted felon was on the Walmart parking lot allegedly engaging in illegal drug activity.
Sallas knew the suspect was currently on parole with a search wavier and also had an outstanding warrant for his arrest, so the affidavit said Sallas asked a patrol officer to investigate.
The suspect, identified in the court information filed Thursday in Independence County Circuit Court as Kenneth Lee Hill, Jr. (pictured), 36, of Batesville, was located by BPD Officer Larry Ring in the Walmart parking lot.
Upon Ring’s arrival, the officer reported Hill squealed his tires and started driving his vehicle toward Ring’s patrol unit in a “reckless manner,” eventually eluding the officer and speeding through the parking lot, the affidavit said.
Ring pursued Hill through the Eagle Mountain residential neighborhood as Hill drove in the opposite lane of traffic around multiple vehicles, the court info said. As Hill passed Eagle Mountain Elementary, which was in session, the arrest affidavit noted the suspect was driving around 70 to 70 mph.
The affidavit said Hill still continued driving at a high rate of speed on the opposite side of the roadway, nearly striking another vehicle head-on, and then took a cut-off to Mountain Ridge Road and then onto Gap Road after running a stop sign.
Hill’s vehicle reached speeds of up to 110 mph on Gap Road, but after a few miles, the affidavit noted the suspect’s vehicle began to slow down as it started to smoke.
The vehicle finally stopped, and Hill gave himself up, the report said.
During an inventory of the vehicle, Ring found a case with a .25-caliber automatic handgun along with a number of ammunition rounds in the case, according to the affidavit.
Hill is charged with two felonies: one county of fleeing and one count of possession of a firearm by a certain person. As a previously convicted felon, Hill is prohibited from carrying a firearm, the court info said.
He was taken into custody with a bond set at $25,000.
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