James Michael Farris
Police chased a Chickamauga, Ga., man from Fort Oglethorpe to the Ridge Cut in Chattanooga, then learned after his vehicle crashed that his four-year-old daughter was in the front seat unrestrained.
Police said the girl was bleeding on her face and body from lacerations suffered during the wreck and the deployment of the air bag.
James Michael Farris, 22, of 152 Brock Road, Chickamauga, is facing multiple charges. They include reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, child neglect, aggravated child abuse or neglect and evading arrest.
The chase began on Tuesday night when a Fort Oglethorpe officer said Farris had tried to run over him.
A city officer said he approached the wrecked vehicle and saw other officers chasing the driver of the wrecked vehicle. The officer said he dropped down an embankment and confronted the man, who put his hands in his waistband, took an aggressive stance, and said the officer was going to have to shoot him because "I'm not going to jail."
He said the man refused to give himself up and began running toward, again saying he was going to have to shoot him. The officer said he used his taser on the man so that other officers were able to handcuff him.
The mother of the child was called and she came to the scene. She retrieved the child after a medic had treated her.
The officer said Farris later told him that he had run because he was afraid police were going to take his daughter away from him.