Two arrested on meth charges after failure to dim high beams leads to police chase
A simple traffic stop for a headlight violation turned into a police chase that ended in felony drug charges on May 6 after a Sumter County driver didn’t turn off their high beams for oncoming traffic.
Teal Hope Leviner and William Lemoin Armstrong II were arrested Saturday following the chase by Sumter County sheriff’s deputies, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.
Both have been charged with trafficking in methamphetamine or cocaine base. Armstrong, the driver, has also been charged with failure to stop for blue lights, according to the statement.
The sheriff’s department described how in the early morning of May 6, deputies attempted to pull over a car that didn’t dim its headlights for oncoming traffic while passing near Guignard Drive and Miller Road in the city of Sumter.
When the deputy activated their blue lights, the car took off. The chase continued west on Broad Street before deputies deployed “stop sticks,” extendable spiked mats, which punctured all four of the car’s tires. While deputies say that the driver initially attempted to keep driving, the car slowly came to a halt in front of Stamey Livestock Road, where both of the occupants, Leviner and Armstrong, were arrested, according to the statement.
Armstrong and Leviner were transported to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center and are being held without bond.