A man who crashed his SUV into the break area of the Cookeville Walmart–injuring at least three employees–was arrested Saturday, December 21.

Brian William Peck, of Cookeville, has been charged with theft of property/possession of stolen property and unlawful possession of a firearm in the case.

According to reports by Cookeville Police, around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Peck drove his vehicle into a canopy area at the store where employees take their breaks.

“I witnessed a black male subject on the ground on his hands and knees screaming, ‘No! I hit this lady! No!” Officer King wrote in a report of the incident. Officer King had been patrolling the parking lot when the incident occurred.”

“As I pushed further through the crowd, I found a woman lying on the ground just in front of the Suburban (vehicle) and under rubble that was once a concrete picnic table,” Officer King reported. The woman’s legs were badly injured and EMS was called to the scene.

“I told another person in the crowd to turn off the Suburban because it was still running and I could see a young boy was still inside the vehicle,” the report states. Peck was identified as the driver of the vehicle.

“He stated that he woke up to the sound of the crash and the woman screaming,” Officer King reported. “He told us that he must have fallen asleep because he had been working a lot this week.”

According to a statement Peck gave police, he had been to work the night before and had only slept a few hours before having to go shopping with his wife and their two children. While giving his statement to police, Peck was “nodding in and out of sleep,” according to a report by Officer Justin Long. Peck also reportedly made statements about “two more snipers.”

“The statement above, in my opinion, appeared like Mr. Peck was having a flash back possibly to a prior war experience,” Officer Long reported.

Peck agreed to a blood test and was taken to Cookeville Regional Medical Center for a blood draw, the report states.

Peck’s wife and daughter had been inside the store during the incident and officers were reportedly given consent to search the vehicle.

During the search, a loaded 9mm pistol was reportedly found under the driver’s seat. Officers found that the gun had been reported stolen out of Cumberland County and that Peck was a convicted felon, leading to his arrest.

Two of those store employees, Amber Whiteaker and Christopher Allen, received minor injuries and the third person, Linda Welch, received critical injuries to her legs, reports indicate.

The young boy who was inside the vehicle when it hit the canopy was not injured. The Cookeville Police Department Traffic Division’s investigation of the crash is still ongoing.

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A man accused of a stabbing that occurred as he and two others were allegedly trying to sell food stamps for money to buy drugs two weeks ago has been arrested.

Anthony Joseph Sitts, 44, of Cookeville, is charged with aggravated assault in the case. According to a report by Officer Josh Ward, a man called 911 Saturday, December 14, stating that he had been stabbed.

According to a statement given by the stabbing victim, Sitts and another individual had shown up at his apartment looking for crack cocaine.

The three left the apartment and attempted to sell a food stamp card to purchase drugs for all three of them, the victim told police.

Sitts, who was reportedly driving the vehicle the three were traveling in began to argue with the victim at some point and “removed a knife from his belt” and began to attack the victim, stabbing him in the neck twice, the victim claimed.

The victim then climbed out of the truck and Sitts and the other man drove away.

The stabbed man reportedly found a nearby resident who allowed him to use a phone to call for help.

Sitts was arrested two weeks ago Friday and charged with aggravated assault. His bond was set at $10,000 and he has a January 13 court date.

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One person died in a one-vehicle wreck Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25.

Bud L. Vines, 45, of North Spring Street, Sparta, was driving a 1996 Dodge Dakota pickup when his car wrecked near the intersection of Highway 111 and Old Memorial Highway, say THP reports.

Vines was traveling northbound on Highway 111 when the vehicle hit a retaining wall and rolled down an embankment, ejecting the driver, THP said.

He was not wearing a seatbelt. THP reports state wearing a seatbelt “would have made a difference.”

Sgt. Jimmy Jones and Trooper David Hickey investigated the crash.

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With funding finally in place, the school board was finally able to break ground on two new school buildings in 2013.

A new high school in Monterey and a new middle school in Baxter had been in the school system’s long-range plans for some time, but hesitation by the county commission to fund the projects held up any significant progress.

In late 2012, the commission approved $53.5 million to fund those two projects and a classroom addition to Upperman High School. However, as things moved forward in 2013 and bids for the projects came in almost $10 million over earlier estimates, plans to expand Upperman High School were pushed aside and the board began looking at possible cost-saving measures.

Demolition of the old Monterey High School began in March. The building was closed at the end of the 2011-12 school year after an inspection uncovered building materials deemed dangerously combustible. MHS students were being housed at the old Uffleman Elementary School building as UES students were shuffled into Burks Elementary School.

That demolition was complete by June, when the school board put out bids for the middle school in Baxter, which was named Upperman Middle School, and the expansion of Upperman High School.

In August, the school board learned that bids for those two items came about $3 million higher than estimated, but they moved forward and approved a bid for the middle school project and held off on taking any action on the high school addition.

In September, bids for Monterey High School came in about $6 million higher than anticipated and the board began making cuts to UMS and MHS, identifying cost savings that would not affect the integrity or long-term functionality of the buildings.

Dirt began moving on the Upperman Middle project, which is on the same property as Upperman High School, this fall and progress at the Monterey site began soon thereafter.

Groundbreaking ceremonies were held for both schools in November.

Construction estimates project both school buildings to be done and ready to open in 2015.

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Christmas Eve was a busy one for local law enforcement as they worked a variety of cases, from drug arrests to aggravated burglary.

According to a report by Cookeville Police Officer Aaron Cox, a disturbance call came in around 3:30 Tuesday afternoon at the Knight’s Inn on Salem Road.

“The anonymous caller stated that there was a male subject being chased around the parking lot by another male subject with a knife,” Cox report stated. “The complainant also stated that the people were staying in room 237 and there was meth, pills and stolen credit cards inside the room. The complainant further stated that there were a lot of people in the room that they had never seen there before.”

Upon arrival, Officers Cox and Blankenship knocked on the door to room 237 and made contact with several people inside the room, where they removed several knives off of individuals after performing protective frisks on everyone.

“While conducting record checks, Officer Spolski observed one person identified as Dariel Abston discard a crack pipe over the railing of the second floor balcony,” Cox’s report said. “Officer Blankenship and I observed two burnt spoons with residue on them lying on the sink. When asked if anyone had any contraband on them, Tracy Way, Jason Hall and Erica Stover were surprisingly honest and admitted that they had pills on them.”

Way stated, according to the report, that she had “dope” in her purse and produced a canister that had a substance that looked similar to meth inside it.

“Mr. Hall and Ms. Stover both stated that they had prescriptions for the pills, but neither could produce them,” Cox’s report continued. “Ms. Way admitted that she regularly uses meth, but has been trying to quit for almost nine years. She had obvious bruising around injection sites on the insides of her elbow.”

Records checks came back clean, with no warrants on anyone found, so Officer Cox cited Way, Hall and Stover for simple possession and Abston was cited for possession of drug paraphernalia.

A window tint violation revealed not only the driver having a suspended license but drug paraphernalia, according to a Christmas Eve report by Cookeville Police Officer Kenneth Frye.

Frye initiated a traffic stop on a white Chrysler 300 on Tuesday around 4:40 p.m. in the area of South Maple Avenue and Neal Street for a window tint violation.

He made contact with the driver, Braedon Julian, of Eastgate Circle, Cookeville.

“A record check of Julian’s license revealed that it was suspended,” the report said. “His license was suspended out of Putnam County on September 18, 2013 for failure to satisfy citations.”

The vehicle’s owner responded to the scene to take the vehicle back, to which Officer Justin Long obtained consent to search the vehicle.

“Officer Long discovered a metal spoon with residue in the trunk of the vehicle,” Officer Frye’s report stated. “I seized the metal spoon with the residue. I issued Julian a citation in lieu of continued custody for driving on a suspended license and possession of drug paraphernalia. I also issued him a citation for the window tint violation. His license was seized to be returned to the Tennessee Department of Safety.”

Officer Frye also responded to a report of an aggravated burglary at Southern Motel on West Broad Street around 8 p.m. Christmas Eve. There he was told by two complainants that “they had left the residence at approximately 9:30 a.m. that day. When they returned at approximately 8 p.m., they found the door unlocked and damage to the door. They found items missing and drawers gone through.”

Among the items missing are a grey Century safe, valued at $50, a “Buck” knife collection valued at $300, various diabetic and blood pressure pills and diazepam (5mg) and percocet.

Officer Frye observed the door facing to be damaged, revealing the door latch.

“Several kitchen cabinets were open and an armoire in the bedroom was open,” he also reported.

One complainant also reported a red Craftsman toolbox missing from beside the front door. It contained several Craftsman wrenches and sockets, along with other tools. The value of the toolbox is $70 and the missing tools valued at $224.00.

Officer Frye went to check with the neighbors to see if they saw any unusual activity. One neighbor reported that around noon she saw a white male in an SUV parked in front of the burglarized apartment, describing it to be a “black/dark blue square body type similar to an older model Ford Explorer.”

She described the male as approximately six feet tall with a thin build, short dark brown hair and “scruffy” facial hair.

“She approached the male to see what he was doing,” Officer Frye’s report stated. “The male became nervous and told her that he lived there, but she had never seen him. She told me that he kept looking toward (the burglarized apartment) or further east. She asked him if she could help him, then the male took off running behind the apartment complex. She said the vehicle sat outside for hours. She looked outside approximately three hours later and it was gone.”

No serial numbers were available for the missing items.

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A Kentucky truck driver was arrested here Sunday, December 22, after he allegedly shoplifted from the Love’s truck stop and then ran from police.

Vernon K. Anderson, 60, of Williamsburg, Kentucky, has been charged with evading arrest in the case.

According to a warrant for Anderson, Baxter Police Sgt. Jeremy Laycock was dispatched to the Love’s store in reference to a shoplifter on Sunday.

When he arrived, he was advised that the subject had fled the scene in a tractor trailer.

Sgt. Laycock stopped the vehicle that the suspect, identified as Anderson, “fled from the passenger side of the semi,” the warrant states.

Anderson then fled on foot and eventually stopped and laid down in a ditch “in an attempt to conceal himself,” the warrant states.

“(Anderson) advised that he fled because he knew he was going to be arrested for the shoplifting charge,” the warrant states.

Anderson was booked into the Putnam County Jail on a $500 bond. He has a January 27 court date.