A Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper clocked a black Infiniti Q50 doing roughly 120 mph in a 40-mph zone in North Memphis, kicking off a chase that ended with two men locked inside a stranger's bathroom and a teenager hiding nearby. Police say the pursuit turned up a modified handgun, a stolen rifle-style pistol capable of fully automatic fire, and a bag of white powder that tested positive for fentanyl.
According to a police report cited by Action News 5, the Infiniti had a fake Tennessee temporary tag when the trooper tried to pull it over. The driver refused to stop, switching off the vehicle's headlights in an apparent attempt to shake the trooper, while a THP air unit tracked the car from above as it wove through North Memphis streets before finally stopping near Debby Street and Brewster Avenue.
Two men jumped out and ran for a nearby home's backyard, the outlet reports, while a third occupant, a teenager, also fled the scene. THP troopers, Memphis Police officers and federal agents converged on the house, where officers found the two men had locked themselves inside a bathroom. A short distance away, they detained a teenager matching the description of the person who had run from the car.
Homeowners Say They Never Let the Men In
The homeowners told police they had no idea who the two men were and had never given them permission to enter, let alone hide in their bathroom, per the same account. Inside the Infiniti, troopers reported finding a modified Glock handgun in plain sight, which police records say was believed to use a Glock switch enabling fully automatic fire. Officers also uncovered a 34-gram bag of white powdery substance that later tested positive for fentanyl, according to police records cited in the report.
In the room where the teenager had been hiding, troopers say they recovered a stolen firearm described as an AR-style pistol also modified for fully automatic fire. Authorities have not released the teenager's identifying information.
Conflicting Records on Charges
Mardrecus Crawford was arrested and charged with multiple felony gun and drug possession offenses and is being held on a $375,000 bond, the report states. Cadarius Watson was arrested on two felony prohibited-weapon possession charges and has a revoked bond, per the same reporting — though publicly available arrest-record listings for Watson conflict with one another. A July 30 record lists a charge of possession of a prohibited weapon, while a September 10 record for a Cadarius Lashun Watson lists no charges at all, and it is unclear from available records whether the discrepancy points to separate incidents.
Part of a Larger Pattern of High-Speed Pursuits
The North Memphis chase adds to a fast-growing tally of high-speed THP pursuits tied to the Memphis Safe Task Force. An analysis of arrest affidavits by the Tennessee Lookout identified 75 vehicle pursuits during the task force's first five weeks of operation alone, from late September to early November. Sixty-six of those, or 88 percent, were conducted by THP, and 32 of the 75 chases resulted in accidents — 29 of them tied to THP pursuits.
The Tennessee Lookout's reporting notes that THP's vehicle pursuit policy appears far less restrictive than those used by many other law enforcement agencies, a dynamic reflected in other recent Memphis-area chases. In one case documented by the outlet, a driver led a THP patrol car on a 110 mph chase down Winchester Road on Oct. 3, 2025, that ended when the fleeing Nissan Altima struck an uninvolved vehicle and a concrete pole. In another, a driver led a trooper on a 120-mph chase down James Road on Oct. 12, 2025, before losing control and running into a ditch.
Guns and drugs turning up together in North Memphis searches isn't new either. A July 2025 search of a North Memphis home, reported by WREG, led to four arrests after police said they found multiple guns, gun-modification devices and drugs inside. It's a reminder that this month's bathroom standoff fits a broader, ongoing pattern of firearms and narcotics investigations across the neighborhood.
