Contributed Photo/Courtesy GCSO: Timothy McClellan led officers on a motorcycle chase throughout Safford.
By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – Timothy Gerald McClellan, 32, was arrested Aug. 31 and booked into the Graham County Adult Detention Facility on charges of unlawful flight from pursuing law enforcement, reckless driving, resisting arrest, driving on a suspended license, and possession of drug paraphernalia. McClellan is also on probation, and on Wednesday, Sept. 4, a petition to revoke his probation was filed.
McClellan was arrested after leading officers on a wild chase throughout Safford, as he dodged and went around pursuing law enforcement vehicles while riding erratically on a borrowed white, 2015 Kawasaki motorcycle, failing to stop at stop signs and performing several other moving violations.
The chase began at about 12:32 a.m., when an officer noticed McClellan fail to stop at a stop sign at the intersection of Relation Street and 8th Avenue and was then clocked at 50 mph in a 25-mph zone.
McClellan failed to yield to the officer’s emergency lights and siren and instead fled. Other officers from both Safford and Thatcher police departments and the Graham County Sheriff’s Office joined in the pursuit and McClellan ended up laying the bike down at the intersection of Relation Street and 9th Avenue.
McClellan was seen attempting to lift the bike back up as officers closed in and then he fled on foot.
As Safford officers and a Sheriff’s Office deputy continued the chase on foot, McClellan began to run in a zigzag fashion to avoid capture. He apparently didn’t see a Thatcher Police officer’s patrol vehicle that had pulled up to his left, however, and zigged when he should have zagged and struck the patrol vehicle and bounced off of it.
McClellan then attempted to run around a Safford officer, but the officer tackled McClellan, who continued to struggle even while on the ground. Two other officers then helped take McClellan into custody.
When asked why he was running from the police, McClellan advised that he did so because he was on probation. A syringe that McClellan advised had heroin in it was found in his pocket, but McClellan advised he hadn’t used any drugs yet and he didn’t show any signs of impairment, according to the police report.
The Kawasaki was later reported stolen by its owner, but McClellan reported that the owner had let him borrow it and that he was heavily intoxicated when he did so. The motorcycle had its key in it, and Graham County Dispatch had a recording of the owner reporting that he had let a man borrow his motorcycle and he had not returned it. Additionally, an officer recalled seeing the motorcycle’s owner speaking with McClellan and another man earlier in the night.
The owner still denied letting anyone use his bike and signed a stolen vehicle affidavit even though the officers did not believe it to be credible. The man was told he could retrieve his motorcycle, which had been towed from the scene, and to report any damage to it.
