Man arrested after footless driving stint

Police are used to responding to a variety of calls but Chief Chris Robertson said one this week may be a record.

“On Nov. 14 about 10:20, 911 received a call that a vehicle was coming in to town on Hwy. 348,” he said. “The vehicle behind it observed that the driver was driving with both feet sticking out of the passenger side window.”

Police and deputies were dispatched only to find the vehicle wrecked at so-called Devil’s Curve, the sharp turn near the city limits.

“They found Aaron Kelly, a white male, walking toward town,” he said. “Officers and deputies tried several times to stop him and talk with him, unsuccessfully.”

Finally, officers deployed a taser and took the man into custody.

“We believe he was under the influence of Flakka,” the chief said.

Flakka is a synthetic drug that can be smoked, vaped, shot or snorted. “It causes extreme abnormal behavior,” Robertson added. Similar to bath salts, it can cause a wide variety of side effects including organ shutdown and death.

It is not certain that is the drug involved because no fast reliable test for it is available. “Testing is up in the air but symptoms would be something like this,” he said.

Kelly was non-compliant and incoherent, the chief said, which may be why no booking photo was available.

“This is just another example of 2020 and what officers have to deal with,” Robertson said. “We’ve had to deal with several people with mental illness who are self-medicating with illegal drugs or medicating and increasing their psychoses.”

The incident turned into a three-agency investigation, the chief said, with MHP Troopers investigating the wreck, county deputies the first part of the incident and the city, the latter part. Police are charging the man with resisting arrest but Robertson said the county may have charges and the MHP would have information about the wreck part of the incident.

It was not clear how severely the vehicle was damaged but the chief said Kelly did not appear to be injured.

When asked how Kelly might have been able to drive with both feet out the opposite window the chief said, “He wasn’t. He wrecked.”