By Joe Johnson
A banged-up methamphetamine dealer was arrested this week after he crashed his truck during a police chase and was shot with a Taser while fleeing on foot.
It all began when 42-year-old James Malpass contacted an undercover officer in Statham through Facebook Messenger offering to sell some meth.
The officer notified police in Athens that he had arranged to make a buy Monday morning at the Publix shopping center on Jefferson Road.
The dealer from Madison County had been arrested in Athens earlier in the year for trafficking meth, so he apparently was on high alert because he immediately sped off upon seeing police arriving at about 1:30 a.m.
Malpass nearly collided his pickup truck with one of the police cars and then wrecked at Lavender and Cardinal Creek roads while driving at about 80 mph.
He tried to flee on foot through a residential neighborhood but an officer who gave chase shot him in the back with a Taser dart and made the arrest,
The drug dealer complained about a possible broken leg from wrecking his truck, but at the hospital it was determined his only significant injury was a fractured nose from hitting the steering wheel.
Malpass was booked into to the county jail on charges that included possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, obstruction, felony fleeing and eluding, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a firearm in the commission of certain felonies, reckless driving, and several other motor vehicle law violations.
He was denied bail due to the pending meth trafficking case, and a hold on his release was placed by the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office for an unspecified reason.
Once he is in prison, Maybe he will get some tats on his face.