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Car chase suspects face justice

They tried to run from Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace and his deputies, but today they came before Judge Marcie Southerland to face justice.
In today’s preliminary hearing, the driver of the vehicle that led law enforcement on a high-speed car chase Saturday night, Keavy Lyons, 21, was charged with felony fleeing, possession of methamphetamine and being in possession of a stolen vehicle. Lyons gave his address as 820 Culkin Road, Vicksburg.
District Attorney Ricky Smith presented the charges to Judge Southerland on behalf of the citizens of Warren County.
“Mr. Lyons is presently out on bond,” Smith told the judge. “He was charged on March 19th of this year with felony eluding, possession of a stolen firearm and possession of methamphetamine. He is presently out on bond for those three charges. My office has already filed a motion to revoke that bond.”
Southerland denied Lyons bond; however, in agreement with the D.A., she allowed bond for his passenger, Mary Powers, 24, of 3708 Halls Ferry Road, because she had no prior record. Powers was visibly distraught as she was charged with receiving stolen property. Southerland set her bond at $25,000.
Pace, Detective Sam Winchester and Deputy Zack Primeaux, also of the Warren County Sheriff’s Department, stopped Lyons on Clay Street in front of the YMCA just before midnight Saturday.
Sheriff Pace stated at the hearing the he “saw a vehicle with no lights on Highway 61 North near a car wash that (he) knew had been burglarized numerous times.” When he attempted to pull the vehicle over it sped away at a high rate of speed. The couple fled north to Oak Ridge, at one point traveling faster than 100 mph. Pace lost them over a hill, but a resident then called 911 to complain of a vehicle racing by on Culkin Road.
Detective Winchester spotted the vehicle, a 2018 Nissan Murano, near the Pecan Ridge Apartments and took up the chase. Pace soon fell in behind the suspect vehicle and verified it was the same one that had sped away from him. The car continued to race away from law enforcement.
The Murano raced past several marked sheriff’s and Vicksburg Police Department cars winding south on Highway 61 North, crossing the bridge over Interstate 20, and then turned west onto Clay Street with several marked and unmarked vehicles now behind it, all lights flashing and sirens wailing.
At around YMCA Drive on Clay Street, Pace said he saw the driver drop a gun. “I saw two hands come out of the driver’s window and drop a weapon on the ground,” he said. “The weapon hit the pavement and skidded under my car as we came to a stop.”
Officers soon found out that the vehicle had been reported stolen June 12 in Warren County.
“The driver was taken into custody,” Pace concluded. “I read him his rights, and it was recorded on a deputy’s bodycam.”
A short time later, deputies reported to Pace that they had found a small amount of methamphetamine in the back of the vehicle used to transport the couple to jail.

Judge Marcie Southerland’s courtroom where Powers and Lyons faced justice in their preliminary hearing.
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