Three in custody following multi-agency chase

One stolen car left in front of Sheriff Brent Miller's home, the other drove through and damaged the yard of Deputy Wayne Blevins

Two New Albany men, Jeffrey Asher, 38, and Corey Jamison, 27, are behind bars after police chased them throughout the Skylight and Cauble Road neighborhood in rural Salem this past Tuesday evening.

Shortly after 6:15 p.m., Sheriff’s Deputy Brad Naugle was sent to an incident on Cauble Road when he saw two vehicles pulled off to the west side of State Road 135 South, just north of Skylight Road — an SUV and a silver minivan. A man Naugle recognized as Derrick Shoults was standing by the SUV and he had seen the minivan doing donuts in a field owned by Steve Purlee near 135 South and Purlee Road. He said it looked like the man driving the minivan was arguing with a woman outside the van. Shoults said he watched the van travel north and got into his own vehicle to follow in an attempt to get a license plate number for the property owner. Shoults said the van made a u-turn and when Shoults tried to make the same turn, he got stuck. Naugle said he looked at where he had seen the van, but it was gone, and his attempts to locate it were for naught.

Naugle continued north on Cauble Road, where he saw a woman in a pink shirt and jeans walking barefoot in the road. She told him she was fine and just out for a walk.

As Naugle continued, he saw a silver minivan traveling south in his lane of traffic, its windshield, hood and sides muddy. Behind the van was a silver Pontiac Grand Am. When the drivers of the vehicles saw Naugle turn around to follow them, the chase was on.

Naugle engaged his emergency lights and pursued, watching as both vehicles ignored the stop sign at the intersection and turned onto Skylight Road.
The Pontiac turned left into the first driveway, which just so happened to belong to Sheriff Brent Miller. Naugle continued after the van, as he thought the Pontiac’s driver had pulled over after seeing the lights.

He said the driver of the Grand Am watched him closely as Naugle continued after the van.

The van continued to flee Naugle and turned right into the driveway just before Arley Brown Road. When Naugle left his vehicle to approach the van, the van darted into the yard of the home, through a flower bed, and fled west on Skylight, leaving tire tracks in the yard. That yard belonged to another Sheriff’s Deputy, Wayne Blevins.

Naugle activated his siren as he pursued the van down Skylight Road. The van returned to Cauble Road and into another driveway and front yard before returning to Skylight Road again. Naugle pursued until he saw the driver’s door open and, while the vehicle continued moving forward, the driver, Jamison, exited the vehicle, laid in the middle of the road on his stomach and placed his arms behind his back.

The van continued rolling into a field and came to a stop.

Jamison told Naugle the only reason he ran was because he knew he had warrants out for his arrest. Naugle said he could smell alcohol on Jamison and noticed his eyes were red and glassy and his balance was unstable.

Jamison told Naugle he “wasn’t going to lie” to him, and that he had smoked marijuana and admitted to having been the one who had driven through the field along State Road 135.

Meanwhile, Martie Miller, Sheriff Brent Miller’s wife, called to say she saw a man in a white shirt and jeans walk up her driveway, toward the rear of her home, but she couldn’t see him any longer. The car he had been driving, however, was still parked at the end of her driveway, it’s headlights shining.
Salem City Officer Dakota Gains-Straight arrived to help and he and Sheriff Miller were unable to find the man, later identified as Jeffrey Asher.

Deputy Paul Ginkins was also en route to assist and Naugle asked if he could locate the woman Naugle had seen walking barefoot. Ginkins brought the woman, identified as Brandy Payton, to the scene. She told Naugle the man driving the van was her son and they had been arguing, so she left and started walking. Naugle said he could smell alcohol on her as well. She admitted to having done some shots and “she was pretty drunk.” Payton said she didn’t know who was driving the Grand Am.

Naugle returned to question Jamison, who again said he didn’t know who was driving the Grand Am. He later admitted he only knew the driver as “LeRoy” and he had met with him in a driveway on Cauble Road to sell a Bluetooth speaker and that he had tried to rob him. They had set up to the deal through social media.

Payton and Jamison agreed to portable breath tests. Payton blew a .094, and Jamison blew a .156. Payton was arrested for public intoxication.

When Howells Towing arrived to recover the van, the plates were read and the officers discovered the van had been reported stolen from Floyd County. The Grand Am was also run through dispatch. It returned to a Joy Godfrey, from South Cauble Road. Ginkins went to check with Godfrey, who said they were missing a silver sedan from their driveway.

Jamison claimed to have bought the van from someone for $150. He said he didn’t know who the person was, but that the title was in the vehicle. The title was later located, but it wasn’t signed.

Dispatchers then received a call from a woman claiming a man had knocked on the door and when she answered, he ran off. Another called to report that a man had knocked on her door on Arley Brown Road to ask for a ride. As officers were searching that area, Martie Miller contacted Naugle and told him she had seen the man walking east on Skylight, just before State Road 135, now wearing a sweater, which Sheriff Miller said he had taken from a vehicle belonging to one of the people he had asked for a ride. It had belonged to the woman’s late father, and she told officers later, the man had also eaten a lunch that had been packed and left in her vehicle and had left the driver’s seat reclined back. When she asked why he was wearing her sweater, he ran away. Off the officers went to see if they could find him, while Naugle was transporting Payton and Jamison to the Washington County Detention Center.

While en route, dispatchers informed Naugle a man on East Miller Sawmill Road, just across 135 from Skylight, called to report a man in their garage, who they thought was stealing their Honda four-wheeler. As Naugle pulled into the driveway in question, he saw a man sitting on a red Honda four-wheeler, rolling toward the highway, but not yet running.

The man admitted to not being the owner of the four-wheeler and he was handcuffed. Naugle said he recognized him as the driver of the Grand Am, Jeffrey Asher, though he was now wearing a pair of coveralls, a black jacket, a green sweatshirt and a white t-shirt with another sweater underneath it. Several of those clothing items had been taken from the garage from which Asher was trying to steal the four-wheeler.

Asher claimed he had been riding with a woman and she dropped him off. He claimed to not know anyone in the area and was just trying to make it home. He also denied being in the garage of the Miller Sawmill Road home and being the driver of the silver Grand Am.

Naugle said he could smell alcohol on Asher’s breath, but Asher claimed it had been eight hours since he’d had a drink. He refused a portable breath test and also a chemical test.

A search warrant was later obtained, followed by samples from Asher at the hospital. His alcohol test revealed an ACE of .17, and he also tested positive for cannabinoids, opiates and amphetamines.

Samples were collected from Jamison as well. His ACE was .169 and he tested positive for cannabinoids, amphetamines and methamphetamine.

Corey Jamison was charged with auto theft, using a vehicle to resist law enforcement, operating a vehicle while intoxicated and endangering a person, operating a vehicle with an ACE of .15 or more, criminal trespass on an agriculture operation, reckless driving causing property damage and criminal mischief.

Jeffrey Asher was charged with burglary, using a vehicle to resist law enforcement, theft with a prior conviction for theft or conversion, unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle, auto theft, operating with an ACE of .15 or more, operating a vehicle while intoxicated and endangering a person and reckless driving causing property damage.

Brandy Payton was charged with auto theft and public intoxication.

Sheriff Brent Miller credited not only the teamwork of multiple police departments, but also the teamwork of his neighbors in helping officers catch the perpetrators.

“Neighbors called neighbors,” he siad. “We have an unofficial block watch out there. It helps to have citizens who will stand up and do the right thing. Word got out very quick. For people we didn’t have phone numbers for, someone else had their number to call them and let them know what was going on and to be on the lookout.”

He likened the search to a rabbit hunt.

“Neighbors would call and they’d tell us they saw something or their dogs were barking, and all the flashlights would head that way,” he said. “Even the Salem City Police Chief came out looking for these guys. I’m grateful all our departments work so well together.”