LENOIR CITY, Tenn. (WATE) — A police pursuit in Loudon County Sunday night ended with a crash involving a patrol vehicle and the felony arrest of a McMinn County suspect who said he ran from deputies due to “stupidity,” according to an incident report from the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office. One deputy was injured in the pursuit crash.

On Sunday, July 17 just before 9 p.m., LCSO deputies observed a black Ford Fusion sedan enter southbound Interstate 75 from Highway 72 and didn’t use a turn signal while entering the roadway and changing lanes. A deputy said in the incident report that he ran the registration and dispatch told him the registration plate did not come back on file; however, an integrated portal search showed the registration was expired and did not come back to the vehicle the deputy had observed. So he initiated a traffic stop near mile marker 71, but the driver did not stop the vehicle.

The deputy said the suspect driver continued to accelerate in traffic and pass other vehicles on the shoulder of the roadway. The deputy initiated pursuit as the black sedan exited the interstate onto Pond Creek Road toward Highway 11.

The driver made a right on Highway 11, left on Fork Creek, and a left on Calloway Road, where they lost control of the sedan in a 90-degree left-hand turn and ran through a barbed wire fence in the 8000 block of Calloway Road. They continued through the field, then came to a stop in the gravel driveway in the 7900 block of Calloway Road. Then the suspect driver collided with a deputy patrol vehicle.

“As I passed by the residence in search of the vehicle, it took a left out of the driveway behind me and while on Calloway, hit Deputy Lane in his patrol unit head-on in an attempt to elude him and myself once again,” the report states. “Deputy Lane did suffer minor injuries to his left arm as a result of the impact.”

The pursuit continued as the suspect driver made a right on Fork Creek Road toward Highway 11, accelerating past the stop sign and crashing across the roadway. A power pole was taken out in the crash.

The suspect driver, identified as 28-year-old Larry Trueblood Jr. of Englewood, Tenn., and a woman passenger were initially placed in custody by the deputies. During a search, deputies recovered two needles, a scale and a clear baggie with crystal-like residue.

Dispatch advised deputies that Trueblood’s license had been revoked last year and he was read his Miranda Rights. The report states when deputies asked why he ran, Trueblood responded with, “stupidity.”

The woman passenger told deputies she had asked Trueblood to stop the car multiple times and he had refused. Trueblood refused EMS treatment on the scene and the woman was taken to the hospital for minor injuries and was later released.

Trueblood is facing the following charges: