By Rod Rose
Assistant Managing Editor
Lebanon — Carroll Wethington may be wishing he’d buckled up.
About 2:15 p.m. Wednesday, Boone County Sheriff’s Deputy Jesse Boggs saw Wethington driving a 1997 Plymouth Breeze near Lafayette Avenue and Powell Street in Lebanon.
Wethington, 25, whose last known address was in the Millerwood Apartments on Grant Boulevard in Lebanon, wasn’t wearing a seat belt, Boggs observed, according to Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Deputy Chris Burcham. Boggs made what he expected to be a routine traffic stop to issue a seat belt violation.
When the Breeze stopped, Wethington jumped out and ran away.
“He’s a habitual traffic violator,” Burcham said.
Deputy Clint Stewart, who completed his field training about two months ago, was backing up Boggs, Burcham said.
Because Wethington had a passenger — who remained in the car — Boggs stayed with the vehicle while Stewart circled the block.
“Stewart found Wethington running down an alley,” Burcham said. “He got out, and chased him down after about a two-minute pursuit.”
Wethington was arrested on felony charges of driving a vehicle as a habitual traffic violator and misdemeanor charge of resisting law enforcement. “We also had a warrant for him from Tippecanoe County,” Burcham said, although that charge wasn’t immediately available.
See Thursday’s Reporter for the complete story.
