A Byhalia man is facing numerous charges after escaping from deputies during a traffic stop, which resulted in a multi-county pursuit and the discovery of drugs and a stolen vehicle.
According to the Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Department, 41-year-old Billy Jack Walker was arrested on Friday night, July 25, and charged with various offenses, including felony fleeing, possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), and possession of stolen property.
The incident began when a patrol officer noticed a strange vehicle stopped in the middle of Cooper’s Crossing Road, with its lights turned off. As the deputy arrived, Walker allegedly jumped into the passenger seat of another vehicle that had pulled up alongside his own. When the deputy conducted a traffic stop, the second vehicle escaped at high speed.
The pursuit proceeded from Pontotoc County to Lee County, culminating in Tupelo where the suspect collided while attempting to pass another automobile on the right shoulder. After the chase, deputies determined that the vehicle left behind on Cooper’s Crossing Road had been reported stolen from Olive Branch, Mississippi.
Walker was charged with 16 misdemeanor counts after being investigated by the department’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID). He remains in detention at the Pontotoc County Adult Detention Center, where a Justice Court judge has set a bond of $34,057.
Walker is also on parole from Marshall County for multiple felony charges and is awaiting pickup by the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC).