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State v. Bartlett4/9/1998
a frequent store customer. On the date of the offense, she observed the defendant purchase a quart of beer between 10:00 P.M. and midnight. Ms. Repasky watched the defendant leave the store, step into a vehicle, and drive in the direction of the courthouse square.
Sam Rollins, a neighbor of the defendant, recalled seeing him near the courthouse square three or four times on that same evening between 7:00 and 10:00 P.M. When he last saw the defendant at about 10:00 P.M., the defendant was driving around the square. Rollins recalled hearing the defendant "take off" in his car and seeing the police officer engage the blue lights. He remembered there was at least one other passenger in the defendant's vehicle.
Deputy Sheriff Craig Bledsoe, who had known the defendant about two years, saw him driving around the courthouse square at about 10:00 P.M. on the night in question. Deputy Bledsoe, who was off-duty that night, did not detect any erratic driving on the part of the defendant at that time.
The defense stipulated that the defendant's driver's license had been revoked. He was not authorized to drive on the night of these offenses.
Officer Howell, who had worked for the Fayetteville Police Department for five years, had been assigned to the second shift on the night of the defendant's arrest. He recalled being approached by Page at about 10:00 P.M. and being informed that the defendant was probably drunk and was driving recklessly on South Main Street in a Sunbird. When Officer Howell drove his cruiser in the direction of the courthouse square, he saw the defendant, who was wearing a denim shirt, jacket, and a black cap, driving a Sunbird automobile. Although he saw a passenger in the defendant's car, Officer Howell could not see him clearly from a distance of twenty-five to thirty feet. When Officer Howell approached the defendant's vehicle, the defendant "accelerated real fast," "started off the square," and ran a stop sign. Officer Howell activated his blue lights, siren, and video camera. During the pursuit, the defendant ran five stop signs and exceeded speeds of 100 miles per hour. When Officer Howell's cruiser had a flat tire , he sent a radio message to the dispatcher, changed his tire and, within twenty minutes, drove to the defendant's residence.
Officer Howell described the defendant as clearly under the influence. The defendant, who could not produce a driver's license, refused field sobriety and breath tests but admitted that he had consumed two quarts of beer. Officer Howell, who early the next morning swore out an arrest warrant for the defendant which included a description of the pursuit, failed to note that he had identified the defendant as the driver of the vehicle just prior to activating his blue lights. Instead, he wrote that the identification was made after the chase began. At trial, Officer Howell conceded that it would have been impossible to identify the driver after the pursuit was initiated. He explained that the oversight in his report, which was written at 3:00 A.M., was due to fatigue. Officer Howell recalled that when he arrived at the defendant's residence, four or five other officers were already on the scene. He remembered that the defendant's brother, Michael Bartlett, had claimed to be the driver of the vehicle.
Defense witness Marty Lyn Bryant claimed that he was with the defendant just prior to the police chase and testified that Michael Bartlett was the driver when he left the two men just before the chase began. He recalled that the defendant was in the back seat of the vehicle at that time.
Michael Bartlett, the nineteen-year-old brother of the defendant, testified that both he and his b
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