A local man has an air-tight alibi for not being in court last Tuesday – he was busy leading officers on a high-speed chase.
The man, Billy Ray Wood Jr., 20, was absent when General Sessions Judge Bill Locke called the docket. Wood was supposed to appear for arraignment for shoplifting from Walmart. Instead, Wood was behind the wheel of a stolen truck, trying to outrun deputies.
“He slowed down and sped up to a high rate of speed on Spencer Highway,” recalled deputy Brystol Davis who was trying to stop the suspect who had passed him at a high rate of speed. “Dispatch advised the Ford Ranger came back as a stolen vehicle.”
The deputy said Wood began passing vehicles in an attempt to get away, blowing past a dumptruck and another vehicle after he turned onto Bone Cave Road.
While Wood had the will to get away, the vehicle didn’t have the engine. “The vehicle began smoking and he pulled to the side of the road,” the deputy said, noting he placed the fugitive under arrest and asked him why he was running.
“He responded that he was to be in court and thought he had a failure to appear (warrant),” the deputy reported, noting Wood said he didn’t plan to go peacefully. “He said he was going to make us work for the stop.”
Wood now stands charged with auto burglary, criminal trespass, grand theft, theft, evading arrest and reckless endangerment.