Puryear man arrested for evading arrest, stolen vehicle

A Puryear man, Jason Johnson, 40, was the object of a manhunt Friday after he fled while Huntingdon police officer Labe Ezell was attempting to stop him for a traffic violation.
He was charged with evading arrest, theft of property and resisting stop and arrest.

At approximately 7:58 a.m., the officer was on patrol when he observed a black jeep traveling in the wrong lane on the Hwy. 22 by-pass. Upon trying to stop the vehicle, the driver fled at a high rate of speed.

Ezell reported speeds of over 100 mph as the vehicle left the city limits and headed west on Highway 70. The driver lost control and wrecked the vehicle after attempting to turn right into Flippin Lane in the Cedar Grove community. Johnson fled on foot into a large cornfield.

A perimeter was quickly set up by officers of the Huntingdon Police Department, the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department. THP Officer Lee Russell was summoned to aid in the search with the helicopter to provide air support.
It was determined that the Jeep had been stolen from Murray, Ky. within the past 12 hours. After several hours of unsuccessful results, the search efforts were suspended.

At approximately 2 p.m., a resident on Terry Road, near the search area, reported that a man that was scratched up badly had just come up on their back porch. Officers from all three agencies rushed to the scene with Johnson being taken into custody by Deputy Ethan Parham.