A Texas man spotted speeding on Interstate 20 was arrested Saturday morning after he crashed his vehicle while fleeing a Lincoln Parish deputy.
Stevie LaTodd Barnes, 37, of Houston, was charged with numerous violations after he was first seen driving recklessly on I-20 about 10 a.m. on July 19.
A Lincoln Parish deputy sheriff working a special traffic enforcement detail saw a sedan driven by Barnes and a black SUV traveling eastbound on I-20 in tandem at a high rate of speed and in a reckless manner. The deputy clocked Barnes’s vehicle on radar at 100 miles per hour in a posted 60 miles per hour construction zone.
When the deputy caught up to the vehicles, Barnes allegedly fled, taking the Simsboro exit and turning south on La. Highway 563 at a high rate of speed. Barnes’s vehicle left the roadway and crashed into a fence just south of Braswell Lane.
A search of the wrecked vehicle yielded a handgun under the driver’s seat, a bag of suspected cocaine in the center console, and a bag of suspected marijuana in the trunk, according to the deputy’s report.
Barnes was taken into custody and booked at the Lincoln Parish Detention Center for speeding 100 mph in a 60 mph zone, flight from an officer, reckless operation of a vehicle, flight from an officer, possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of firearm in the presence of a controlled dangerous substance, criminal damage to property, and no proof of liability insurance.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named or shown in photographs or video as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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