Wild chase ends with four arrests

Published 12:29 pm Wednesday, July 6, 2016

ETON, Ga. — A police chase around Eton in north Georgia following a driver who apparently didn’t know the best escape routes ended with a car crashed into a tree and the arrest of four people from Tennessee on various drug charges on Saturday.

According to reports from the Murray County Sheriff’s Office and the Chatsworth Police Department, what was supposed to be a traffic stop shortly before 3 p.m. for aggressive driving turned into a chase down dead end roads and across private property. The driver, Marshall Coty Buell, managed to avoid authorities for nearly 10 hours before being caught by the Chatsworth Police Department in a cemetery, hiding behind a headstone.

The drama began when sheriff’s deputy Justin McEntire saw Buell’s 2000 Mazda Protegé make a pass between two vehicles on Highway 411 North just south of Eton. McEntire tried to pull the car over, but Buell accelerated away and began weaving in and out of traffic.

When the car turned east onto Eton Industrial Drive, McEntire noted the passengers began to throw items out of the car. After crossing across a business parking lot, the Protegé returned to 411 and continued north. Buell then turned down Weaver Road, which is a dead end street, and had to cut across private property to return to 411 and head south back toward Eton.

The chase continued to Merritt Street in Eton before Buell hit a tree in a private residence on Glenn Street. Buell and passenger James Bradley McMahan jumped out of the vehicle, and deputies were able to chase down McMahan.

Two female passengers — Kyri Nacos and Rainey Fields — were arrested in the car, and deputies found a bag of meth, a glass pipe, syringes, needles and anabolic steroids along with digital scales and several small plastic bags.

Buell was caught later that night after a report of a suspicious person in the Bojangles’ parking lot. He was found in the cemetery on the hill overlooking Bojangles’, Krystal and Captain D’s. Buell ran into a field of thick grass but quickly surrendered to police as he wasn’t wearing shoes and the briars tore into his leg.

Buell, 23, of 105 Welcome Grove, Green, Tenn., was charged with possession of meth, possession of a drug-related object, possession of a schedule 2 drug, reckless driving, fleeing or attempting to elude an officer, loitering and two counts of obstruction of an officer.

McMahan, 26, of 136 Ted Brown, Chuckey, Tenn., was charged with possession of meth, possession of drug-related objects, possession of a schedule 2 drug and obstruction of an officer.

Fields, 24, of 808 Carolina Drive, Greeneville, Tenn., was charged with possession of a drug-related item, possession of meth, possession of a schedule 2 drug and crossing guard lines with weapons/drugs/intoxicants.

Nacos, 30, of 1552 Silver Grove Road, Bluff City, Tenn., was charged with possession of a drug-related item, possession of meth and possession of a schedule 2 drug.