BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEWPORT -- A 20-year-old Cincinnati man, the first to be charged under Kentucky's new "Partin law" that makes fleeing from police a felony, was indicted Thursday by a Campbell County Grand Jury.
Damon C. James was arrested July 15 by Newport police after driving away from an officer who attempted to pull him over on Saratoga Street. According to court records, Mr. James ignored the officer's lights and siren, and fled across the narrow, two-lane L&N Bridge to Cincinnati.
At Mr. James' preliminary hearing last month, Newport Police Officer Leonard Stephens said he tried to stop the red Nissan driven by Mr. James because a passenger, a female juvenile, was wanted on a detention pickup order.
Officer Stephens testified he did not follow Mr. James as he fled across the bridge.
Officer Stephens later apprehended Mr. James when Mr. James returned to Newport with some of the passengers who the police officer said were in the car during the pursuit.
Mr. James was charged under a law that took effect July 15 as part of a crime bill passed by the General Assembly in March.
The law is named for Covington Police Officer Michael Partin, who died when he fell from the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge in January while coming to the aid of another officer who was in pursuit of a suspect.
