A Bradford man is in McKean County Jail for allegedly fleeing from police on an all-terrain vehicle while driving drunk.
Axle L. Tankersley, 34, of 30 Summer St., is charged with fleeing or attempting to elude an officer, a third-degree felony; evading arrest on foot, a second-degree misdemeanor; driving with a license suspended DUI related — 5th offense; DUI, a misdemeanor; and four summary traffic violations.
At 1:04 a.m. Friday, state troopers were patrolling on School Street near Pearl Street in Bradford when they saw an ATV turn onto Jackson Avenue. When troopers put on their lights and sirens to stop it, the ATV “began to flee at a high rate of speed,” the criminal complaint stated.
The troopers saw two males on the vehicle before losing sight of it in the area of Pleasant and Summer streets. When they caught up to it again, the ATV was parked on Summer Street and they saw one male running away. He was quickly stopped, and troopers asked him about the ATV. Eventually he told them that Tankersley was driving it and they had just left a bar, the complaint stated.
A trooper approached the ATV and found Tankersley hiding behind it. He had a strong odor of alcohol, and told police he wasn’t on the ATV, but had been lying there the whole time. Bradford City Police reviewed surveillance cameras, and Tankersley was observed operating the ATV just before the pursuit began, according to the complaint.
Tankersley was arraigned before District Judge Rich Luther and remanded to jail in lieu of $50,000 bail. He is scheduled for Central Court on Thursday.
