This is the second time Thomas Lee Doyle has been the object of a headline grabbing pursuit and capture in our county. He was initially arrested in Macon County April 4, 2007, following a high-speed pursuit that began in Sumner County with an armed robbery at a Gallatin Walgreen Drugstore.

A man later identified as Doyle fled the scene of the Gallatin robbery in a red Chevy Caviler with Pennsylvania tags and headed north toward Westmoreland. During a routine traffic stop at the intersection of Hwy. 31-E and Hwy. 52 in Westmoreland, Sumner County Deputy Marty Cothran learned that the suspect he pulled over fit the description of the suspect in the Gallatin armed robbery.

The officer reportedly gave the driver of the red Cavalier an order

to exit the vehicle, but when Doyle allegedly made a threatening move the deputy responded by firing a shot that grazed the suspects right cheek. Doyle then fled the scene of the traffic stop at a high rate of speed and headed East on Hwy. 52 toward Lafayette.

Macon County Sheriff's Department, Lafayette Police Department, and the Tennessee Highway Patrol agencies where alerted that the suspect in the two Sumner County incidents was headed into Macon County.

He was spotted near the O.K. Market and pursued by Macon Sheriff's Detective Bennie Hudgens. Arriving in the Lafayette city limits, Doyle is said to have run several stop signs on the 52 By-Pass before pulling into the Save-A-Lot parking lot. Law enforcement vehicles blocked all the exits and Macon County Sheriff's Detective Benny ...

Hudgens reports that he approached with his weapon drawn and ordered the driver to exit the vehicle.

The desperate fugitive began to move again and struck Hudgens with the passenger side of his car, knocking him to the ground and injuring the lawman's shoulder. Doyle again fled, traveling from Sav-a-Lot to Sneed Blvd., then out the Coolidge Road. He was finally apprehended when the small red car ran off a bridge in John Lewis Hollow and wrecked in the creek. A paper sack full of cash was recovered from the vehicle. No weapon was found.

Doyle has been held in the Macon County Jail since April 4, 2007 charged locally with aggravated assault, felony fleeing arrest, and four counts of reckless endangerment. He will later face felony robbery charges in Sumner County.