Contributed Photo/Courtesy GCSO: Paul Still was booked into the jail on charges of unlawful flight from pursuing law enforcement, escape, and resisting arrest. Additional DUI charges are pending lab test results and review by prosecutors.
By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – Paul Still, 22, was arrested and booked into the Graham County Adult Detention Facility on Tuesday, Nov. 5, after allegedly leaving the scene of an accident and fleeing from pursuing law enforcement. Still was booked on charges of unlawful flight from law enforcement, escape, and resisting arrest. He was also arrested for DUI, with charges pending lab test results of his blood and review by prosecutors.
According to Safford Police reports, officers were in the western parking lot of the Safford High School at about 12:30 a.m. when they heard what sounded like a vehicle collision to the northeast. Shortly thereafter, they witnessed a maroon, Dodge Challenger southbound on 20th Avenue at a high rate of speed and it appeared to be dragging something underneath the vehicle.
The officers attempted to catch up to the Challenger and followed it down Golf Course Road, where it declined to yield to the officers’ lights and instead accelerated and crashed into a short, concrete and stone wall in front of the Mt. Graham Municipal Golf Course Club House. The officers reported the Challenger went nearly vertical in the air before crashing back down after striking the wall. It was later removed from the scene by Magnum Towing.
After the collision, both the passenger and the driver, later identified as Still, fled on foot. The passenger was caught quickly and advised Still was driving and had been drinking earlier first at the Morenci Motel and then at JD’s Corner Sports Bar & Grill in Thatcher. He said they had gotten into a collision on 20th Avenue after leaving JD’s and had contacted the other party before leaving.
While the passenger was in custody, the officer could see the other officer chasing Still on the golf course. The officer caught up with Still and tackled him to the ground. He then attempted to take him into custody, but Still allegedly resisted being handcuffed and a struggle ensued.
Eventually, Still was handcuffed and was walked back to the parking lot. While being handed off to another officer, however, he again took off running on the golf course, this time with five officers in pursuit. Still eventually tripped and “another struggle ensued with multiple officers on top of him”, according to a police report.
Still allegedly admitted to drinking alcohol at JD’s and said he had his last drink – a beer – roughly 30 minutes prior to driving and getting into the first collision. A tow inventory of the Dodge Challenger also turned up a 12-pack of Dos Equis beer on the passenger floorboard and an open bottle of Jack Daniel’s Honey Liquor.
