Derrick Keith Walker

A Chattanooga man was arrested by East Ridge police after he tried to steal a box truck from a local motel and ran from authorities.

Thirty-year old Derrick Keith Walker, of an Appling Street address, was charged by East Ridge with Attempted Auto Theft and Criminal Impersonation,, Felony Evading, Theft over $10,000, Reckless Endangerment and Felonious Operation of Motor Vehicle. Walker is being held in the Hamilton County Jail under a $75,000 bond. He is due to appear in East Ridge Municipal Court on September 6.

According to an affidavit of complaint, officer were called to Camp Jordan Parkway, last week, on an attempted vehicle theft. A security employee at the Motel 6 told officers he was walking through the lot checking vehicles when he saw a flashlight beam on the side of a box truck. The employee checked the vehicle and a man dressed in all black ran across the street and hid behind another car. The employee told police that he lost sight of the man when he ran back across the lot toward the Food City.

When police checked the truck they found that the steering column had been damaged. Police found a cordless drill in the bushes not far from the truck that they believed the suspect used to drill out the ignition in the steering column.

According to the report, Officer Scott Darwin stopped a man in the 6700 block of Ringgold Road that fit the description of the suspect. The man told the officer that his name was Kevin Johnson but he couldn’t provide a social security number or other personal information. Officer Darwin asked the suspect to step over to his cruiser so he could pat the man down, and the suspect ran through the parking lot of a local business and jumped into a red Ford F150 truck.

The report said Officer Darwin ordered the man out of the truck but the suspect started the truck and took off out of the lot at a high rate of speed, almost striking Officer Darwin and another ERPD patrol car that had been called to the scene. The truck ran over three city garbage cans and proceeded west on Ringgold Road and onto Interstate 75 as it was pursued by police.

The report states that the suspect crashed the truck into a traffic pole at the intersection of North Terrace and South Germantown Road where he was taken into custody.

The report states that a records check showed that Walker’s license was revoked as an habitual offender and that the truck was registered as stolen out of Chattanooga. 

_ 4111 Fountain Ave.: Police were called to the address on Aug. 21 in regard to a suspicious person. According to a police report, an officer spoke with a woman who said that a white female had parked a late model Saturn in her driveway and then walked down the street. The complainant said that a short time later she was approached by a woman asking asking her for money because her vehicle had broken down.

The report states that the complainant told the woman asking for money that “she knew who she was because she had seen her on Facebook.” The report states that the complainant told police that she believes the woman asking for money is Valerie Reed.

The report states that after the complainant conversed with the woman believed to be Reed, that the woman became verbally aggressive and took off in the Saturn. The report states that when police had arrived the suspect was not at the scene.

A short time later police officers located the vehicle _ which had no tag _ at South Germantown and Anderson Avenue. The car was being driven by Charles Reed, the report states. Mr. Reed told officers that he “did not know anything about Ms. Reed being on Fountain Avenue.”