Hot pursuit went through Greensboro to Marion, then back towards Hale on 14 before suspect crashes on county road
Hale County Sheriff’s Department set up a routine driver’s license and insurance checkpoint west of Greensboro on Tuesday evening. Sheriff Mike Hamilton said the officers were set up near the Kynard Logging building, at the intersection of Co. Rd. 21 (the Akron Shortcut) and Highway 14 west of Greensboro.
Hamilton said that, at around 6:30 that evening, one driver decided she wasn’t going to stop for the officers.
Hamilton said the driver, who was wanted on a misdemeanor failure to appear warrant in Moundville, “Just didn’t want to go to jail.”
According to police accounts, the driver, 25-yearold Crystal D. McClellan of Moundville, drove away from the checkpoint rather than be detained on the outstanding warrant. She then led officers on a high-speed chase that spanned two counties and ended in a crash.
“She came through town driving crazy,” said Hamilton, noting that she was suspected of committing “several traffic violations” as she led patrol cars through Greensboro.
The chase continued down Highway 14 into Marion. Witnesses said the cars must have been traveling at an extremely high rate of speed, as the chase took only minutes to get into Perry County.
Officers say McClellan led police through Marion, then turned around and headed back towards Hale County on Highway 14 west.
She evidently turned off of 14 onto Lee Williams Road, a short residential road which dead ends. Hamilton said she wrecked her white compact car on that road.
McClellan was not seriously injured in the crash, and deputies apprehended her. She was booked into the Hale County Jail at around 7:30 that night.
Hamilton said she had been charged with escape, reckless driving, and three counts of criminal mischief.
