LAKE COUNTRY
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Marguerite Elizabeth Crumbley was pulled from the F-250 she used to lead authorities on a high-speed chase through Morgan, Jasper and Putnam counties. CONTRIBUTED
A Greensboro woman was arrested on a laundry list of charges in Eatonton on March 12, following a police chase involving several law enforcement agencies at speeds approaching 100 mph.
Marguerite Elizabeth Crumbley, 42, faces charges of reckless driving, DUI, misdemeanor obstruction, fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement officers, failure to stop at a stop sign, and failure to maintain lane.
According to reports, Madison Police Officer Blake Rowe and Morgan County Deputy Patrick Carey attempted to make a traffic stop on Crumbley’s burgundy F-250 at the top of the I-20 exit ramp at Monticello Road in Madison at around 10 p.m. after Morgan County dispatch received reports of a reckless driver on I-20 near milepost 105.
Crumbley left the interstate and rolled through the stop sign at the top of the ramp heading toward Shadydale and Deputy Derek Snead pulled alongside her truck, according to the report, as Carey caught up from behind.
But as law enforcement officers were walking up to Crumbley’s vehicle to speak with her, she sped away.
Deputy Snead and Deputy Carey both pursued with Snead the lead unit.
According to reports, Crumbley’s vehicle was traveling at speeds in excess of 90 miles per hour in a 55-mile-per-hour zone and passed multiple cars on double yellow lines.
Rowe advised dispatch to notify Jasper County of the chase, and the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office said they would have stop sticks set up in Shadydale. Crumbley hit the first set of stop sticks, according to Rowe’s account, but missed the second set at Hwy 83 and Hwy 142 by turning left toward Eatonton.
The Eatonton Police Department then set up spike strips on Highway 16 just west of the Eatonton Bypass. Crumbley hit the spike strips but continued to flee with multiple flat tires and the rubber on fire.
Crumbley then slowed down to speeds of approximately 40 to 50 miles per hour in the area of Monticello Road and Custer Avenue, where Deputy Snead used a PIT maneuver to spin out Crumbley’s vehicle and end the pursuit.
The Morgan County deputies exited their patrol units and ordered Crumbley to get out of the vehicle, but she failed to unlock her door, according to the report.
Carey attempted to break Crumble’s window with his baton, but window tint hindered his effort.
Crumbley eventually unlocked her door but continued to actively resist by holding onto the steering wheel, the report said.
Rowe said he had to lean across Crumbley to unlock her seatbelt. At length, Crumbley was removed from the vehicle and placed in handcuffs.
Rowe said he could smell a strong odor of alcohol coming from Crumble’s breath, and law enforcement allegedly found eight travel-size Fireball liquor bottles, some partially empty, and two glass bottles of unopened Jamaican Me Happy Seagrams in the passenger area.
The Georgia State Patrol was called in to work the accident, and Putnam County E.M.S. arrived to check on Crumbley, who was bleeding from her lip but refused treatment.
When Crumbley was asked for a blood sample, she told deputies, “No, go (expletive) yourself,” according to the report.
The decision to allow Snead to execute the PIT maneuver was made due to Crumbley’s reckless and felonious driving in the area of downtown Eatonton.
Crumbley was taken to the Morgan County jail.