ST. GEORGE — A disorderly conduct call landed a Nevada man in jail Monday evening after leading officers on a short pursuit that started at a restaurant on River Road and ended on the side of Interstate 15.
On Monday, officers were dispatched to the Village Inn on River Road shortly before 7 p.m. on a disorderly conduct call and were advised that two men were inside of the restaurant screaming, throwing things and swearing.
The caller said the men appeared to be under the influence of some type of drugs. As officer’s pulled into the restaurant parking lot, a vehicle being driven by the suspect, later identified as 71-year-old Raymond Dean Perry, was just leaving.
According to the officer’s report filed in support of Perry’s arrest, when he got behind the suspect’s vehicle and activated his lights, the driver looked “directly” at him, and “his eyes got big as if he was surprised to see me.”
The vehicle pulled out of the parking lot at a high rate of speed, cutting off several motorists in both lanes of travel and sped off south on River Road.
With officers in tow with lights and sirens blaring, the driver made a U-turn heading north, again forcing two lanes full of drivers to slam on their brakes to avoid an accident.
The suspect’s vehicle then stopped in the middle of St. George Boulevard, even though the light was green, and turned left, cutting off multiple drivers and entering oncoming traffic.
The officer changed the pitch of his siren to alert the driver to stop, but instead, the car entered the Interstate 15 onramp heading north toward Washington City.
The officer pulled alongside the vehicle, and Perry put both hands out of the window and shook them in anger, which is when the officer positioned his patrol unit near the rear quarter panel of the suspect’s car in an attempt to box him in, at which point Perry pulled over and came to a stop.
According to the report, the suspect was “extremely irate” as the officer approached the car, and as Perry cursed and screamed, the officer detected a chemical smell coming from his breath.
The officer also noticed that the man could not sit still, his speech was slurred, and he had visible bruxism – involuntary grinding of the teeth – as well as body tremors.
After allegedly failing a field sobriety test, Perry was transported to the police department for further testing by a drug recognition expert, which revealed that Perry showed signs of impairment from central nervous system depressants and stimulants.
During a search of Perry’s vehicle, officers recovered a large glass pipe that contained a measurable amount of burnt methamphetamine.
A records check revealed the suspect was driving on a suspended license, and the registration on the vehicle expired in 2015. Perry was subsequently transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility facing felony evading, along with seven misdemeanor drug and traffic offenses.
Back at the Village Inn, officers learned that Perry had been screaming and cursing on his cell phone, and when he was asked to leave multiple times, he refused and started to scream and curse at the employees in front of other patrons of the restaurant, which is when police were called.
Officers also learned that Perry was the only man involved in the incident, and he was subsequently banned from entering the restaurant.
This report is based on statements contained in court records and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.