BOAZ, Ala. – A multi-county high-speed chase on Sunday ended in Boaz after multiple vehicles were damaged and the vehicle being chased crashed into a building.
According to Boaz Police Chief Josh Gaskin, the chase began in Etowah County in the Gadsden/Atalla area. He said Alabama State Troopers initiated the chase when the vehicle drove north on US-431.
Chief Gaskin said Boaz police assisted state troopers with the chase in the Sardis area shortly after 5 p.m. He said Boaz police attempted to stop the vehicle, but the vehicle hit and heavily damaged multiple police cruisers.
The vehicle then went northbound in the southbound lanes of US-431 driving over 80 miles per hour, according to Chief Gaskin.
Chief Gaskin said police forced the vehicle to the correct side of the road around Billy Dyer Boulevard in Boaz.
The vehicle drove into traffic hitting a police cruiser, according to Chief Gaskin.
Chief Gaskin said the chase ended when the vehicle crashed into a building near Martin Avenue and US-431.
Police said the driver of the vehicle, Jack Levi Button, 26, of Boaz, was listed as a work release inmate through the Alabama Department of Corrections.
Police arrested Button on drug charges and felony assault on a police officer. Two other people in the van, Morgane Lee Ann Whitt, 23, of Gadsden, and Maridith Judy Lenham, 22, of Piedmont, were arrested on drug paraphernalia charges.
All three were taken to Marshall Medical Center South after the pursuit, according to Chief Gaskin.
Chief Gaskin said no Boaz police officers were injured in the chase.
Boaz Assistant Police Chief Walter Colbert said the agencies involved were the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, Etowah County Sheriff’s Office, Boaz Police Department, Sardis Police Department, Attalla Police Department, and Boaz Fire Department.
