East Texas

By KELLY GOOCH and COSHANDRA DILLARD
Staff Writers

HAWKINS -- A 24-year-old man is behind bars after crashing a vehicle in Upshur County and fleeing the scene, Hawkins Police Officer Josh Hollis said.

He said it started around 3:45 p.m. Friday when authorities got a call about a drunken or reckless driver.

It was then that police began looking for the driver who has been identified as Hawkins resident Justin Scott Tanner, Hollis said.

While police were looking for Tanner, Hollis said the 24-year-old wrecked the vehicle he was driving.

Hollis said Tanner fled the scene after the one-vehicle accident, and witnesses followed Tanner into the woods so they could inform authorities of Tanner's whereabouts.

A witness, who lives in the Shady Grove community just north of Hawkins, said he was almost run over by the Tanner while he was taking a walk on a black top road near the Wood and Upshur County line. He said he heard a loud crash shortly after.

"I heard when he wrecked over on FM 1795," he said. "He was going so fast that he was about to turn his car over on the turns."

The witness, who does not want to be identified, said he was shocked by the incident and the numerous officials that responded.

"This is a real quiet rural area," he said. "I've never seen anything like this before."

Hollis said maybe right around an hour or hour and a half passed from the time the call came about the accident and when the Texas Department of Public Safety caught Tanner.

Tanner was apprehended by DPS officers, examined for injuries at East Texas Medical Center in Gilmer and taken to Upshur County Jail

Tanner is being charged with obstruction or retaliation, resisting arrest, driving while intoxicated/open container and evading arrest. He had outstanding warrants for public intoxication, possession of drug paraphernalia and a class C misdemeanor out of Wood county. Tanner sits in the Upshur County Jail on an $8,500 bond.