Mom hitches ride with man who eludes police

A mother hitched a ride with a Jacksonville man who said he wanted to give ice cream to school kids, but he ended up in jail.  The Nassau County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call that Katrail William Crumley, 35, was acting suspiciously after he visited a Hilliard store and asked for directions to Hilliard Elementary School, eating ice cream and telling the employee that he also had ice cream for the students. 

Thinking it suspicious, the complainant called the NCSO and provided a description of the gray Toyota 4-Runner Crumley was driving, according to Sheriff Bill Leeper. A woman dressed in a black shirt was also said to be with Crumley at the time. 

When a deputy arrived at HES at 8:28 a.m. he saw Crumley in the driver’s seat of the SUV as it was parked in the student collection lane. After seeing the deputy’s patrol car, Crumley left the traffic line and parked in a nearby parking space.

According to the NCSO arrest record, Crumley exited the vehicle, walked to the rear, then over to the passenger’s side. The deputy approached the suspect as Crumley was crouched down beside the vehicle. 

“I asked Crumley if he was eating ice cream and asking people for directions, to which he stated, ‘Yes,’” the deputy noted in the arrest record. “I advised Crumley that the tag on his vehicle was not assigned to the vehicle he was driving.”

Crumley allegedly told the deputy that the SUV belonged to his girlfriend’s grandfather and that “he was old and must have put the tag on the wrong vehicle.”

When the deputy asked for Crumley’s driver’s license, he told the deputy that he didn’t have it on him and proceeded to state his name and date of birth instead. 

As the deputy ran the suspect’s information, Crumley got back into the vehicle and sped away.

“I yelled at Crumley to stop the vehicle, at which point he gave me his middle finger and proceeded at a high rate of speed northbound on Ohio Street,” the deputy wrote.

The deputy began pursuit with lights flashing and the siren sounding as Crumley headed eastbound on West Sixth Street at a high rate of speed. 

“I observed Crumley run the stop sign at W. Sixth Street and Oxford Street at a high rate of speed,” according to the arrest record. “As Crumley approached the intersection of U.S. 1 and West Sixth Street, there were multiple vehicles stopped at the stop sign. Crumley entered into the oncoming lane and passed the vehicles running the stop sign, almost striking a vehicle that was moving onto U.S. 1.”

After turning southbound onto U.S. 1, Crumley ran the red traffic light and continued to speed. Crumley proceeded down U.S. 1, attempting to run vehicles off the roadway, passing vehicles on both shoulders as he continued speeding, according to the arrest record. 

As the truck approached U.S. 1 and Landfill Road, another deputy deployed stop sticks to flatten the suspect’s tires. Crumley ran over the stop sticks, which caused the left front and rear tires to go flat, according to the arrest report. 

Despite this, the suspect continued traveling southbound before turning westbound onto Musselwhite Road at a speed of more than 80 miles per hour “as his tires began to sheer off of the rims of the vehicle,” the arrest record noted. 

Crumley continued southbound and turned onto Griffin Road with NCSO in pursuit of the SUV. Crumley was still behind the wheel when he turned east onto State Road 200 and eventually lost control of the SUV while passing a semi. The Toyota traveled off the roadway and onto the southbound shoulder before striking a natural gas pipeline that is under construction. 

After striking the pipeline, a deputy pulled alongside the SUV with lights flashing and sirens activated. Crumley accelerated and stuck the right front bumper of the deputy’s patrol car, pushing the bumper. This caused Crumley’s SUV to spin back across both traffic lanes and into the median facing a westbound direction, according to the arrest record. Crumley again accelerated and drove toward the deputy’s patrol car as the deputy attempted to stop his vehicle. The suspect struck the front driver’s side bumper of the patrol car. After that, Crumley stopped his SUV and was apprehended. 

Once he was apprehended, deputies searched the vehicle and found 3.3 grams of methamphetamine, two glass pipes containing methamphetamine residue, a digital scale containing methamphetamine residue and multiple plastic baggies inside. 

The vehicle was stolen from Hamblen County in Tennessee.

Crumley was booked into the Nassau County Jail. 

He was charged with aggravated fleeing and eluding a law enforcement officer, theft of a motor vehicle, possession of methamphetamine, three counts of possession of drug paraphernalia with residue, possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, resisting arrest without violence, operating a motor vehicle without a driver’s license and several traffic infractions. 

Although it wasn’t noted in the arrest record, Leeper said that a school safety officer on campus came out to assist the deputy. 

Also, the woman originally seen with Crumley is the mother of two children who attend HES. She has joint custody of them and went to HES to retrieve the children for a doctor’s appointment. 

According to Leeper, the woman had caught a ride with Crumley, who is friends with someone who she knows. Because the woman’s name wasn’t on the student checkout list, she wasn’t allowed to get the children. 

“She called the girlfriend of the kids’ father, (who has joint custody and enrolled them in the school), who was on the checkout list to come to the school to add her to the list,” Leeper said. “While this was taking place, the incident in the parking lot occurred and the suspect she caught a ride with left after being confronted by the deputy. Afterward, she, the father’s girlfriend and the kids all left together.”