WEBB — A Clarksdale man was arrested Oct. 31 and charged with leading Webb police on a high-speed chase that covered approximately 24 miles and reached speeds in excess of 100 mph.
Webb Police Chief Scott Ferguson identified the driver of the orange 2021 Dodge Charger as Tidjane Abdoulaye Ba, aka Tino G. Feldman or “LL Teasie,” 22, of 410 Quincy Ave., Clarksdale.
Ferguson said Abdoulaye Ba was charged with felony evading, reckless driving, improper passing and failure to obey traffic control signs.
He was released ofter posting a bail bond of $5,000.
According to Ferguson’s report, the pursuit began quietly enough after the chief observed the orange Charger roll through a stop sign at the corner of Main and South Chickasaw at 1:08 a.m.
Ferguson said he made an attempt to pull the vehicle over for the traffic violation, but the driver instead accelerated.
The chief said he followed the car down several Webb streets before it turned onto Main and then veered onto Highway 49, traveling northbound toward Clarksdale.
Near Scott’s, on Highway 49 at Sumner, Ferguson said he observed “several items, which appeared to be packages, being thrown from the passenger-side window.”
“At this point, our speeds reached in excess of 100 mph,” the chief noted.
Ferguson said the driver of the Charger was “driving excessively fast and reckless,” adding that he “constantly bobbed and weaved in and out of traffic” erratically.
Two Tutwiler police units joined the pursuit as the vehicle sped through that town, and Ferguson said Coahoma County officials were notified.
The pursuit ended at 1:28 a.m. at the intersection of Desoto Avenue and North State Street in Clarksdale when the suspect stopped after realizing that city police had the intersection surrounded, Ferguson said.
The driver and passenger did not comply with demands that they exit the car with hands in the air, the chief added, noting that officers “made entry into the vehicle and placed them into custody.”
Webb Police Chief Scott Ferguson
After the passenger was removed, a 9 mm handgun fell from the waistband of his pants, said Ferguson, explaining that it had one magazine with 12 rounds of ammunition.
A subsequent search of the Charger turned up two more handguns — a Glock .45-caliber featuring one magazine with seven rounds, and a Glock 9 mm with a magazine of 15 rounds — tucked between the driver’s seat and the center console, Ferguson’s report indicated.
An additional 17 rounds of .45-caliber ammunition were found in the center console, he added.
The driver was booked at the Webb Police Department at 3 a.m. The passenger was not charged but was told charges are “possible pending investigation,” the chief said.
Ferguson noted that he later received word that a gunshot victim in the emergency room of the Clarksdale hospital that morning was claiming to have been shot “by the guys in the car being chased by police.”
The chief said an investigation is ongoing regarding the victim who said the two Charger occupants were involved in shooting him, as well as the items thrown from the Charger by the passenger.
Ferguson said the three confiscated handguns are part of his department’s goal “to get guns off the streets and out of the hands of criminals,” noting they have confiscated five in the past few months.
