Most people who receive tickets pay the fines and never have to see Columbus Police Officers Lance Luckey and Kelvin Lee.
But Eugene Levar Stewart, 25, was not that fortunate Tuesday morning. Stewart, who resides at 315 Jimmy Phillips Road in Crawford, was arrested and served with 28 outstanding warrants.
Luckey said he and Lee had been looking for Stewart for a long time when they received a tip that he was staying at Columbus Inn and Suites on Highway 45 North. They hid their patrol car and waited. After 45 minutes, Stewart emerged from his room.
He jumped in his vehicle to flee, but they hemmed him in the parking lot, where he locked his doors and windows and refused to exit the car.
“We attempted to break the windows, but we couldn’t get them broke,” Luckey said. “We spent 15 minutes yelling at him and trying to break the windows. … I told him when we got that window busted, he was going to be tased.”
When Stewart opened the door, Luckey and Lee dragged him out of the car and handcuffed him.
He was transported to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle after complaining of back pain due to a car accident, but Luckey said doctors found nothing wrong with him, so he was taken to the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center and charged with numerous offenses — the majority of which were traffic violations.
Stewart was booked on the following charges: driving without a driver’s license, eight charges; driving with no insurance, five charges; driving without a license tag, two charges; and one charge apiece for driving while intoxicated, speeding, running a stop sign, not using child restraints, giving false information, domestic violence, domestic violence/aggravated assault, grand larceny — more than $500, possession of marijuana, possession of cocaine, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
His combined bond for the charges is $21,948; his court date is March 7.
“He’s the only one in my career that I’ve known of having this many warrants,” Luckey said Thursday night. “He gets them and just refuses to come to court.”
Luckey and Lee were taken off the patrol beat in September and assigned solely to serving warrants. Since that time, they have served more than 500 warrants and arrested nearly 400 people.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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