HAWKINS COUNTY HIGH-SPEED CHASE ENDS WITH BLACKOUT AND SOUTH CAROLINA MAN ARRESTED

A Hawkins County, Tennessee car chase ends in a crash and South Carolina man arrested. The Hawkins County Sheriff's Office reports that the chase began on Monday at 10:14 p.m. on Highway 31 going towards Highway 11W. A 2003 Volvo was traveling at 57 mph in a 45 mph zone, prompting a deputy to turn on the blue lights and siren, which is when the Volvo sped up even more. It continued to increase up to around 120 miles per hour and was reportedly all over the road and driving in the opposite lane, almost entering the ditch. The pursuit was terminated at Highway 31 and Beauty Salon Road. Later, multiple people reported hearing a loud explosion and then the power went out in that location where the vehicle was found on McNally Lane, where it had crashed into a utility pole. The driver, 40-year-old Joseph Matthew Lewis, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, fled on foot and the plates was registered to a 2007 Isuzu and there was no insurance on the vehicle. A deputy found Lewis, covered in cuts, riding a golf cart on Slate Hill Road. He gave a false name to investigators and didn't know the last four digits of his social security number. Lewis was found to have a suspended license in South Carolina and was charged with speeding, evading arrest by motor vehicle, failure to stop for blue lights, obedience to traffic control device, due care, leaving the scene of an accident, evading arrest by foot, criminal impersonation, driving on a suspended license, violation of financial responsibility, misuse of registration, and theft over $1,000. He was transported to the Hawkins County Jail. 

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