A man who sent authorities on a wild goose chase for a dead body after leading them on a high-speed chase has been sent to prison for three years.
The defendant, Christopher Steven Higgins, 34, has entered guilty pleas before Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley to charges of assault, evading arrest, and filing a false report. He must also serve the balance of a former sentence on his prior conviction for delivery of drugs. His probation violation will be served in addition to his three-year term.
Higgins was charged after a series of events which began when he showed up with his girlfriend at her ex-boyfriend’s house and a fight erupted. Deputies were called and encountered Higgins’ vehicle as they were responding to the assault incident. They tried to pull him over.
However, Higgins refused to stop, accelerating to over 100 mph in his attempt to evade apprehension. Officers cut off their chase after getting a description of the vehicle due to the dangerous speeds. They would later find out that in addition to his girlfriend, there was a young child under the age of 10 in the vehicle while he was fleeing lawmen.
While officers were still in the area looking for Higgins, he made a false report by cellphone claiming a body had been found at a location off Short Mountain Road. The call prompted some of the officers still looking for the fleeing motorist to go to the scene of the alleged body, thereby creating a diversion.
“I had to get them off me,” Higgins confessed in his statement, revealing he was hiding in the woods when he made the call. “I told them I walked in on a body on Short Mountain. I admit, I was highly intoxicated.”
Higgins said he ran because he knew he was in violation of his probation for not reporting to his probation officer.