Driving a vehicle with no tag lights lead to an arrest when it was discovered that not only was the tag on the vehicle not correct, but that the drivers licenses’ was also suspended.

According to Summerville Police Reports, on September 8th, a truck traveling southbound on Commerce Street was observed to have no tag lights, which is required. As the truck continued onto Highway 48, Officers tried to initiate a traffic stop however the driver continued to travel down Highway 48. The driver finally pulled over on at the Food Mart Gas Station on Highway 48, but not before Officers were able to observe the driver failing to maintain the lane on several occasions by crossing over the white line.

When contact was finally made with the driver, identified as Tony Starkey, was very irate and kept asking for the Officers supervisor. After being informed that no supervisor was available and asking why he did not stop sooner, Starkey replied that he was searching for a safe place to pull over. Officers had already ran the tag through the E-911 system and had been informed that the tag belonged to a 2002 White Chevrolet Avalanche, however the vehicle Starkey was driving was a 1989 Red Ford Truck. Officer inquired about the tag belonging to another vehicle and Starkey replied that he had just placed it on the truck and he would change them back to the right vehicle later. Running Mr. Starkeys license through the system, they came back as suspended back in August 2021 for a failure to appear. A check of the Ford Trucks VIN showed it as belonging to a Robert Cochran and that it had a cancelled registration and no insurance.

Tony Starkey was placed under arrest at this point and transported to the Chattooga County Jail without further incident. Starkey was charged with No insurance, Failure to Maintain a single lane, fleeing/attempting to allude Police, License Driving with license suspended/revoked, operating a vehicle with a cancelled/suspended registration, and tags removing/affixing tag with intent to conceal.