For the second day in a row, the Greenwood Police Department was involved in a vehicle chase after trying to make a traffic stop.
According to an investigative report from the department, an officer patrolling the area near Sycamore Avenue and U.S. 82 became suspicious of a driver who had slammed on his brakes, stopped in a parking lot and turned the lights off in his vehicle just after midnight this morning.
The driver then tried to leave the lot and head east on the frontage road along U.S. 82.
When the officer activated his lights and sirens, the vehicle pulled into the Best Inn and Suites and appeared to be coming to a stop. Then it began moving again, and a passenger got out and began running away.
The officer called for backup. While the passenger ran away, the driver, later identified as Danny Ray Dean, 26, turned the vehicle and drove it toward the officer. The officer pulled over to avoid getting hit by the vehicle.
Dean picked up speed as he headed down the frontage road and then increased speed as he turned onto Baldwin Road. Officers said that man was swaying in and out of boath lanes. Dean made it to U.S. 49, where he continued to drive at a high speed.
Before officers could try to box the vehicle in, the driver lost control of the vehicle and went into a field.
Dean attempted to flee on foot. He was charged with second offense DUI, reckless driving and felony evasion.
Officers also found a “highly intoxicated” passenger on the back floor of the vehicle who was unaware of what had happened.
• Contact Taylor Kuykendall at tkuykendall@gwcommonwealth.com.
