Thursday, December 23, 2010 10:27 am

Cannon County Sheriff’s Deputy Lawrence Avera was on patrol on Jim Cummings Highway on Dec. 17 at approximately 8 p.m. when he passed two sport ATVs traveling northbound approximately 100  yards north of McMahon Road as he was traveling south.

Deputy Avera clocked the ATVs traveling 62 mph in a 55 mph zone. He activated his emergency equipment and both ATVs continued northbound on Jim Cummings Hwy.

Deputy Avera turned around and began following the ATVs and they continued to speed away. Deputy Avera was approximately 200 yards behind the ATVs.

After a short time he saw one ATV turn left off the highway and the other one turn right. Deputy Avera decided to follow the ATV that went right because he was certain it was a dead end road.

As the deputy turned onto the road he could see the taillight from the ATV in the distance and as he continued down the road he realized it was actually a driveway and there was one house at the very end of the driveway.

It appeared to Deputy Avera the ATV he was following drove inside a barn on the back of the property. He pulled into the yard of the house and exited his vehicle in an attempt to locate the ATV and rider.

Deputy Avera located the rider and the ATV parked behind the barn. The rider was identified as Micheal Troy Cook of 223 Smith Rd., Bradyville. He was operating a black Honda TRX 700 XX.

Cook told Deputy Avera he did not know where the other driver went. He also said he did not know whose property was on.

Cook said he was just riding and having a good time and he made a bad decision by not stopping. He also said it was a bad idea to ride the ATV on the highway.

At this time Detective Matt Goney arrived on scene and advised Deputy Avera the same two ATVs were riding around while he was on a traffic stop on Jim Cummings Hwy. in the area of McMahon and Smith Rd.

Cook said he could not explain his behavior, saying there was no excuse for it and he was just having a hard time in his personal life and was out trying to have fun. Deputy Avera could smell alcohol on Cook’s breath. Cook stated he had approximately three beers. Deputy Avera reported Cook was able to satisfactorily perform field sobriety tests.

Cook was arrested and charged with evading arrest by a motor vehicle, criminal trespass, and given a citation for operating an off road vehicle on a highway. He was given a warning ticket citation for speeding. Bond was set at $4,000. Initial court date is Feb. 1.