Fleeing Suspect Heads On Two Patrol Cars

A dangerous situation ended with no one seriously injured in an incident involving three Cocke County Sheriff’s Department patrol cars. It started Monday morning when a deputy spotted a man in the Lowe’s parking lot in Newport wanted on three warrants. That man was 41 year old Richard Carnal, who immediately fled in his vehicle towards Cosby Hwy, totally ignoring the stop light at Cosby Hwy and Epley Road and continuing onto Cosby Cut-Off Road where drove at high speeds. He turned onto Green Acres Road where he nearly struck a vehicle head on. Carnal then turned onto Lower English Creek then to Cliff Road where a construction crew had to scatter to keep from being hit by Carnal. He then turned onto O’Neill Road where he reached speeds of 80 mils an hour. Other patrol cars joined in the pursuit with one patrol car laying out spike strips near the intersection with Highway 73 in an attempt to disable Carnal’s vehicle. However, Carnal did a u-turn before reaching the spike strips. He then turned into a field and then turned around, moving head on for a Cocke County patrol car. Carnal then crashed into two patrol cars head on, but a third patrol car pulled in behind him blocking him in. Carnal finally surrendered and was taken into custody. He faces a long list of charges that include two counts of reckless endangerment with a vehicle. The two patrol cars hit head on were severely damaged in that incident.