A 70-year-old Cookeville man was fatally injured in a motorcycle crash on Saturday afternoon, November 19, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Dennis Dean Martin, of Cedar Creek Road, Sparta, died in Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, Sunday, November 20, says a report by State Trooper Sgt. Joe Agee.

He suffered serious injuries in a one-vehicle accident at 1:27 p.m. November 19 on Highway 135, Burgess Falls Road, near Rice Road, the trooper said.

Martin was driving a 2006 Kawasaki Vulcan motorcycle north on Burgess Falls Road when the cycle ran off the right side of the highway, the report says.

Martin was thrown off, and the cycle traveled on, coming to a final rest in the middle of the roadway.

Putnam Sheriff’s Deputy John Pettit responded to the scene and said when he arrived he saw “a motorcycle in the center of the roadway.”

“Several yards from the bike, in the edge of a field, a passerby was checking on the pulse of the patient. The patient was unresponsive and the man advised me that the patient had a pulse, but his breathing was very shallow.”

Putnam Ambulance medics arrived then and began working to save the victim’s life.

Deputy Pettit and Deputy Roy Phipps helped get the injured man into the ambulance, and he was taken to a location nearby and from there transported by helicopter to the Chattanooga hospital, the deputy’s report says.

Sgt. Agee’s report notes that Martin was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

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A Knoxville teenage who was partying in Cookeville two weekends ago is now jail for allegedly assaulting a man and a woman who live near where the party took place.

Allegedly, Jacob Wayne Beason, 18, of Frances Road, Knoxville, became furious when his 17-year-old girlfriend claimed someone had taken advantage of her and he went after the culprit–but got the wrong house, police said.

It all happened about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, November 20 on Blake Circle, says a report by Cookeville Police Officer Jimmy Blankenship.

Beason and his girlfriend were at a party there when he commented that he didn’t have enough money to get back to Knoxville and his girlfriend volunteered to “go and earn some money real quick,” others later told police.

“She then left on foot and came back a short time later saying that she had been taken advantage of,” the report says.

That is when Beason and two other young men went looking for the person who had “taken advantage” of the girl.

In a nearby residence, a 20-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman were surprise when “three unknown males came knocking on the door and shouting,” the report says.

Beason allegedly told the man he was looking for the person who had taken advantage of his girlfriend, and the man, backed by witnesses there, said he knew nothing about the incident.

Beason and the others then turned to leave, but when the man called out to his dog in the yard, Beason allegedly thought the man was talking to him and turned around, grabbed up some rocks, and hit the man in the head, breaking his jaw, the report says. He also allegedly hit the young woman.

The two young men who were with Beason later told police that they had “thought everything was fine” as they had turned to leave the residence.

But Beason “inexplicably became violent,” they said. He then took off his shirt, “filled it with a large stone,” and approached the man on his porch and “struck him with it,” then struck the woman and ran away, the report says.

Police officers working the case put out a bulletin for Beason’s car, a gold colored Chevrolet Cavalier with Knox County tags, and Officer Chris Ferguson soon spotted it on Willow Avenue and tried to stop it, but the driver would not pull over.

The officer chased the car west on Broad Street and onto Royal Oak Drive, where the driver pulled into a driveway, jumped out and ran away.

“The vehicle was never put in park, and it continued to roll until it came to a stop after it hit a parked pickup truck in the driveway,” Officer Ferguson said.

Beason’s 17-year-old girlfriend was removed from the car and taken to the Juvenile Detention Center. She was charged with resisting arrest and curfew violation.

Warrants for evading arrest, aggravated assault, and felony evading arrest were filed against Beason, and later, he was arrested by Officer Derrick Springs.

Beason was jailed, and his total bond was set at $35,000.

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A man who became angry at his girlfriend two weeks ago was jailed after allegedly hitting her and hitting and shoving four young children, police said.

Victor Roberts, 47, of Hunter Avenue, is charged with aggravated child abuse, four counts of child abuse, and domestic assault in the case, according to Cookeville Police Officer Luke Ward.

It happened at the Roberts home Friday, November 18, about 7:15 p.m., says a report of Officer Ward.

Officer Ward and Officer Eric Hall were sent to the residence on a report of a domestic assault.

Roberts’ girlfriend told the officers that Roberts became angry at her “when she told him to find his own socks,” and that he had hit her on the left side of the head with a wooden brush, knocking her down.

She said her four children (ages 5, 6, 8 and 11) had tried to stop the assault and that Roberts had “pushed all four of them to the floor,” the report says.

During the altercation, Roberts allegedly threw a plate, which struck one of the children on the chest, leaving a bruise.

Officer Ward filed the charges against Roberts, and later he was booked into Putnam County Jail, where his total bond was set at $45,000.

The officer also notified the Department of Children’s Services.

Roberts has a December 12 court date.

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The Tennessee Highway Patrol consulted with several other states to see if they were providing security for Wall Street protesters before making arrests in Nashville, according to public records obtained by The Associated Press on Monday, November 21.

Protesters had been camping at the Legislative Plaza across the street from the state Capitol for about three weeks when a curfew was announced October 27. There were 55 arrests over the next two days.

But before the arrests, records show Virginia was among several states Tennessee consulted to see if it was providing security and who was paying for it.

In Nashville, there has been no overtime paid to state troopers involved in the security or enforcement efforts at the plaza, according to the Safety Department. The only cost is a per diem of $34 to troopers for nightly meals.