NACOGDOCHES COUNTY, Texas — Two men from the Midwestern U.S. were arrested after a high-speed chase spanning multiple East Texas counties in which authorities seized over 30 gallons of prescription medicine.
Demarco Bell, 28, of Chicago, Illinois, and Jaylen Joshua Johnson, 22, of Indianapolis, Indiana, were charged with evading arrest and possession of a dangerous drug following the Jan. 12 pursuit, according to the Nacogdoches County Sheriff's Office.
Officials are searching for another suspect who evaded arrest.
Deputies tried to stop a Hyundai Sonata before 8 a.m. Jan. 12 in the 8700 block of U.S. 259 North, but the driver drove away reaching speeds of over 100 mph. He went north and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers followed the car into Rusk County, the sheriff's office said.
According to officials, the driver turned on to State Highway 315 and Rusk County officials tried to stop him, but he reached 115 mph and headed toward Panola County.
Constables in Panola County deployed spike strips to stop the vehicle but the driver avoided them. The driver then swerved toward a Panola County deputy constable, who fired at the vehicle.
The pursuit continued into downtown Carthage, where two fled on foot and one of them was arrested. A third person kept evading arrest using the vehicle, officials said.
The chase kept going on U.S. 59 to through Tenaha and into Timpson before the driver stopped near the intersection of U.S. 59 and CR 414 in Panola County. The driver was then arrested, according to the sheriff's office.
Officers found three suitcases and three cardboard boxes packed with 252 one-pint bottles of promethazine, a prescription antihistamine medicine. it's unknown how the suspects obtained the medicine.
Bell and Johnson were booked into jail but both have since bonded out. Additional charges are possible, the sheriff's office said.