WILLIAMSON CO.—One of our southern Illinois counties has been plagued with high-speed car chases or erratic driving leading to crashes over the past couple of days.
The first went down Sunday (September 1) in the wee hours, when Williamson County deputies were dispatched to a domestic disturbance in the village of Crab Orchard. They hadn’t quite gotten there, however, when deputies were told that the subject of the domestic, David Ritchie, 27, had left the residence after “tearing it up.” Deputies were told Ritchie was driving a red Ford Mustang. A search of his name revealed that there were warrants for Ritchie’s arrest…and that he had no license, as it had been revoked.
As it turned out, Ritchie drove right past the deputies as they approached the residence. When they activated lights and sirens, Ritchie turned his car around and drove head-on at the deputies, who were forced off the road in the impromptu game of chicken.
They got the cruiser back on the road to chase after him, but he did it again, this time from the opposite direction of course, striking the patrol car in the rear (as the deputy driving hadn’t had time to turn his ride around, only to get it back on the road.) Another responding car was struck by the Mustang on the front, as it was approaching the scene.
Fortunately for all involved, the two collisions caused the attempting-to-flee Ritchie off the road and into a ditch….from which he attempted to escape by driving the Mustang out. That didn’t work, because the police cars, joined by yet a third, were able to get into position and keep him from leaving. He was arrested, the caller from the residence was checked up on, and we the taxpayers have this magnificent mug of Ritchie to show for it.
David Ritchie’s magnificent mug
But that wasn’t all to come out of Williamson County on Sunday.
At about 2:15 a.m. that same day, one Ashley N. Elder, 24, of Johnston City, was involved in a high-speed chase with police across an unidentified area of Williamson County.
The chase, said Johnston City police chief Vernon Campbell, reached speeds of 120 mph.
Her chase ended in a crash, too, when her vehicle left the road at a curve and crashed, followed by the cruiser that was pursuing her, which left the same curve and was totaled in some trees.
To add insult to the situation, Elder tried to run and had to be subdued by a stun gun.
She’s charged with two counts of Aggravated Fleeing/Eluding, as well as a count of Resisting, all this after the officer tried to stop her for speeding.
There’s been no indication of either person having been under the influence of anything…except maybe ‘stupid,’ which usually causes a person to make a bad situation much worse, despite it being completely avoidable.