A 33-year-old Maryville man, Jamie Scott Banks, is facing a litany of charges following a harrowing vehicular pursuit that culminated in collisions with police cruisers. The Blount County Sheriff's Office detailed the chase that began late Saturday night after Banks, driving a Chevy Colorado pickup, careened onto a basketball court at Atchley Apartments and nearly struck an individual, as reported by WVLT. The arrest was made possible through the cooperation of local Maryville officers and Blount County deputies.
After Banks fled the scene, the pursuit ensued, which the Maryville Police Department initiated but later handed over to the Blount County Sheriff's Office once beyond city limits. With the suspect weaving dangerously in and out of oncoming traffic on U.S. 411 South and evading spike strips by driving through yards on Morganton Road, the chase intensified. Eventually, Banks crashed into a tree, and in a final act of defiance before his capture, "ramming" into two police cruisers, Sheriff James Lee Berrong described to WATE.
The series of charges Banks now faces includes DUI, evading arrest, resisting arrest, reckless endangerment with a weapon (two counts), failure to yield to an emergency vehicle (five counts), and aggravated assault against a first responder (two counts). Following the arrest, Banks is being held at the Blount County Correctional Facility on bonds totaling $33,000, according to WBIR. Banks' hearing is on the calendar for 9 a.m. on November 7th.
During the confrontation and subsequent arrest, after seeing a K-9, Banks surrendered to deputies. After ramming the cruisers and trying to resist, the sheriff's office claimed that Banks admitted to having relapsed on drugs, which was conveyed in the statement by the Blount County Sheriff's Office to WATE. This admission came as part of a chaotic sequence where deputies surrounded his truck and commanded him to exit, only for Banks to escalate the situation further before his eventual capitulation.
