January 27, 2020
By: Dwayne Page
A 37 year old Loganville, Georgia fugitive is facing a host of charges after leading the White County Sheriff’s Department on a pursuit Saturday into DeKalb County and through Smithville to Hurricane Bridge on Cookeville Highway where he was stopped in a Dodge Ram pickup truck and taken into custody after a brief armed standoff with the officers.
Although the White County Sheriff’s Department has not confirmed it, WJLE has learned that the suspect, Kyle Fuller, is facing charges including fugitive from justice, aggravated assault, possession of drug paraphernalia, evading arrest, possession of methamphetamine with intent to manufacture, deliver, or sell, possession of a weapon during a felony, possession without a prescription, reckless driving, reckless endangerment, and unlawful carry or possession of a weapon.
A motorist on North Congress Boulevard near the intersection at East Broad Street caught the pursuit on video from her phone and posted it to facebook. (View Below).
The truck, hauling a trailer, cut through the property of the former Gill Automotive at Highway 70 and 56 and turned north onto Cookeville Highway to avoid the intersection where Smithville Police and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department had held up traffic. Several White County officers continued to pursue the truck. Spike strips were put down to stop it and the truck later went off the road near Hurricane Bridge. After a brief standoff with officers, Fuller was placed in custody. Although the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department gave backup support, local deputies were not involved in the pursuit.
In a statement posted on the White County Sheriff’s Department facebook page, more details have been provided as to how the Saturday pursuit started.
“On Saturday, January 25, an anonymous tip was provided to a deputy with the White County Sheriff’s Office regarding the whereabouts of a wanted individual with possession of a firearm. The White County Deputy called an agency in Georgia to verify the warrant information. The subject had a “nationwide pick up” if found. The deputy researched the Georgia case, and he states the subject was wanted for a string of burglaries. After identifying the vehicle description in White County, the deputy visualized the subject commit a traffic violation. The deputy initiated a traffic stop. The subject provided false identification and proceeded to be non- compliant with the deputy’s request. After asking the subject to step out of the vehicle, the subject became combative. After refusing to leave his vehicle, he accelerated the vehicle forward. The responding deputies initiated a pursuit,” according to the statement.
“The pursuit crossed into DeKalb County. The deputy who received the tip was able to obtain the phone number of the subject. During a phone call, the subject confirmed there was a firearm in the vehicle. The subject continued to the Hurricane Bridge area where standoff negotiations occurred. Sheriff Steve Page and the White County Deputies talked the subject down from using the weapon in his possession. The subject surrendered and is currently in custody. After searching the subject’s vehicle, a handgun, a crystalline substance believed to be methamphetamine, green leafy substance believed to be marijuana, unmarked pills, drug paraphernalia, and multiple credit cards and identifications in various names were located. The subject also has active felony warrants out of Georgia for theft and burglary.
“The White County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the Tennessee Highway Patrol and DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office for assisting,” the statement concluded.
In November, Fuller and a woman got in trouble with the law in Gwinnett County, Georgia.
According to media reports there, an alert officer was able to solve multiple burglaries after noticing a suspicious vehicle while on his way home from work on Nov. 29, 2019.
The officer observed a pickup truck pull out of a subdivision that was still under construction and noticed that it had no license plate and that there were two large pillars protruding out of the back of the bed.
He pulled the vehicle over and quickly discovered that the two occupants of the vehicle, Fuller, and 41 year old Karey Byrd, both of Loganville, Georgia had two different stories about where they had been that morning.
GCPD said both of the occupants of the vehicle were arrested and initially charged with Loitering and Prowling and Burglary 1st Degree.
The case was handed over to detectives, who searched the vehicle and allegedly found Fuller and Byrd had multiple items that had been taken from the property that morning as well as other items allegedly from two other burglaries in Gwinnett County. The items included tools and building material taken from other properties.
Fuller and Byrd, both released on bond the same day they were arrested, were charged with three additional counts of second-degree burglary and one count of first-degree burglary but they did not turn themselves in for booking on these charges.