Father charged for high-speed chase

A father who led lawmen on a high-speed chase with his 6-year-old son in the car and then left the boy behind when he ditched his vehicle faces reckless endangerment charges.

The suspect, Randy Ray Murphy, 28, is charged with reckless endangerment, evading arrest and driving without a license, as well as earlier charges of theft.

His charges come after he panicked when he saw sheriff’s investigator Jim Hartman pull into the parking lot at Jewell’s Market on Smithville Highway. Hartman suspects Murphy bolted because he was wanted for violation of probation and may have feared the lawman would recognize him.

Not realizing Murphy had his 6-year-old son sitting unrestrained in the back seat of the car, Hartman gave chase as the Murphy vehicle sped onto Green Hill Road. The chase continued at a high speed with the fleeing suspect taking turns at an aggressive pace until he reached his parents’ trailer on Green Hill where he pulled into the driveway, jumped out of the car, and fled into the woods.

Hartman, who just caught a glimpse of the driver fleeing on foot, said he found a front-seat passenger who was intoxicated and the 6-year-old boy, still sitting without a child seat or seatbelt in the back seat.

‘I asked the little boy who was driving,’ recalled Hartman. ‘The child said ‘My daddy was driving’.

In addition to his own son pointing to Murphy as the driver, Hartman said in his haste to flee, the suspect left behind his wallet which bore all of his identification. Murphy was taken into custody three days later.