Man jailed after 2 high-speed chases in 3 days

A Tucumcari man was jailed on felonies after being accused of engaging with two high-speed pursuits with police in three days.

Jimmy Lenard Johnson, 40, was charged with two counts of aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer, plus resisting a law-enforcement officer, criminal damage to property, no driver’s license, speeding by 36 mph and over, criminal trespassing and failure to maintain a traffic lane.

The aggravated fleeing counts are fourth-degree felonies that could lead up to 18 months in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.

According to online court documents, the first incident occurred the night of Oct. 15.

Police received a report about Johnson trespassing at a property at South Mountain Road in Tucumcari. An officer saw him in a vehicle on the road, and Johnson refused to pull over.

As Johnson’s vehicle turned onto an Interstate 40 ramp going the wrong direction “while drastically increasing his speed.”

He continue to drive in the wrong way on I-40, endangering other motorists. He exited at another ramp and continued east out of the city.

On Oct. 16, the district attorney’s office filed an expedited motion to jail Johnson while his case was being adjudicated, stating he was a danger to the community and a flight risk.

The second incident occurred the morning of Oct. 17 when officers were informed Johnson was on a far east section of Route 66 in Tucumcari.

A sheriff’s deputy vehicle parked behind Johnson’s vehicle, and officers instructed him to get out and show his hands.

Johnson refused and drove his car through a barbed-wire fence into a field, where officers lost sight of the vehicle.

Officers later received reports of Johnson driving east on I-40 at a high speed. They caught up with Johnson’s vehicle, which would not stop, passed vehicles on the shoulder and drove between traffic lanes at speeds of about 115 mph.

Officers pursued the vehicle into Texas, where it turned around and went west. At one point, Johnson drove off the roadway and broke through another fence in eastern Quay County.

Johnson’s vehicle stopped on a Route 66 frontage road, where officers surrounded it.

With weapons drawn, officers told him to leave the vehicle with his hands shown.

Johnson locked himself in his vehicle and began hitting his head with a hammer. An officer finally persuaded Johnson to get out of the vehicle, where he was arrested and booked into the Quay County Detention Center.

Johnson was scheduled to make his first appearance in court on Oct. 22 before Magistrate Judge Noreen Hendrickson.