Red Bay man arrested following crash, chase

RED BAY – A Red Bay man was arrested on Saturday after officers said he hit a parked tractor trailer while driving under the influence and led officers on a foot chase.

Dathan Elijah Strickland, 23, 799 10th Ave. NE, Red Bay, was charged with driving under the influence, second-degree unlawful possession of marijuana, unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia and resisting arrest, Red Bay Police Chief Janna Jackson said.

According to Jackson, the Red Bay Police Department received a call on Saturday evening that there was a vehicle being driven erratically near the intersection of 10th Street and the old Alabama 24.

Jackson said witnesses reported the vehicle was driving in the construction zone in the closed section of Alabama 24 and that the vehicle actually slammed into a parked tractor-trailer before leaving the scene.

Jackson said a Red Bay officer was in the area on Alabama 24 when the call came through and spotted the vehicle based on the description given by witnesses.

“The officer turned around to stop the vehicle, which had turned down a side road,” Jackson said.

“When the officer came up on the vehicle, it was stalled in the road and the subject was outside of the truck.

“When the subject saw the patrol car, he then took off running through a swampy, wooded area.”

Jackson said the officer pursued the subject on foot through the dense wooded area and repeatedly told him to stop.

“The officer identified himself and told the subject several times to stop running or he would be tased,” Jackson said.

“The subject continued to run so the officer tased him and was finally able to bring him into custody.”

Jackson said the subject, identified as Strickland, was arrested for driving under the influence and received the drug charges after a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia was found in the vehicle.

Jackson said Strickland was released from custody on bond.