When the driver of a pickup truck headed out of Bloomfield tried to avoid a traffic stop by fleeing, a chase ensued, one officer with lights and sirens following him through the countryside down one road then another and another. The driver got away but it didn’t end well for him – five officers showed up at his house later that night. On his way to jail, he said he thought the patrol vehicle would have been faster than what it was.

Samuel Edward Summerville, 29, of rural Newberry, was arrested at his home in the Scotland area late Sunday night, October 28.

Summerville was the driver of a gray 2004 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck that was headed east on Spring Street in Bloomfield around 8:50 p.m. Sunday when Deputy Marshal Jordan Allor of the Bloomfield Police Department noticed the truck’s license plate light was out.

Officer Allor got behind the truck and continued to follow it while he checked registration information. When he got a return of the info, they were on Furnace Road near Iron Mountain Road. Allor turned his headlights off, to make sure the license plate light was out – it was, then back on, then hit the red and blue lights to conduct a traffic stop.

Instead of stopping, the truck turned south onto Iron Mountain Road and sped away. The officer hit the sirens, notified dispatch and said the truck was traveling at such an extreme high rate of speed that a cooking grill bounced out of the bed of the truck onto the roadway and the patrol vehicle almost hit it. The officer slowed down for safety reasons.

Allor saw the truck turn east onto Rubber Tree Road then Mineral-Koleen Road then he lost it.

Allor went to the residence of the registered owner, Summerville’s father, and asked about the truck. The owner said Sam Summerville had it and he lived with his wife in the Scotland area. Allor determined the couple lived on Westgate Road and when he checked Summerville’s record, he found Summerville was a habitual traffic violator who does not have a driver’s license.

Officer Allor went to Summerville’s residence. So did Lt. Marvin Holt of the Bloomfield Police Department and Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy Harvey Holt, Sgt. Bobby Pierce and Det. Shawn Cullison.

When they all arrived, they saw the truck, and Summerville and his wife came out the front door asking the officers what they were doing. They both said Summerville had been there all night, and nobody else had been driving the truck.

But when Sgt. Pierce asked Summerville’s wife if he could walk through the house to make sure nobody else was there and she agreed, Pierce and Allor walked through and Pierce talked to a teen who was in the house and told him Summerville had picked her up at a friend’s house earlier that night and after dropping her off at the house, Summerville left to go pick up pallets.

After their story fell apart, Summerville’s wife allegedly confirmed that Summerville had left earlier and when he got back, told her what had happened.

Officer Allor said when Summerville was placed in handcuffs, he was still denying that he’d been driving the truck but on the trip to jail, when Officer Allor told Summerville he’d almost hit the grill, Summerville allegedly said he had it strapped on.

During their trip, Summerville asked Allor why he turned his headlights off and on and Allor explained the reason. Then they talked about the route the incident had taken and where Summerville had gone when Allor lost him.

Summerville allegedly told the officer he thought the officer’s car would be faster than what it was and Allor responded by telling him he wasn’t going to drive the way Summerville was driving.

Summerville was booked in around 11 p.m. with bond set at $9,000 surety with ten percent allowed. As of very early Friday, he had not posted bond and remained in jail.

During his initial hearing on Tuesday, Summerville was charged with:

• Resisting law enforcement with a vehicle, a Level 6 felony,

• Operating a vehicle after being an habitual traffic offender, a Level 6 felony,

• Reckless driving at an unreasonable high speed that endangers safety, a Class C misdemeanor, and

• False reporting, a Class B misdemeanor.