NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Nearly two weeks after being placed on administrative leave with pay, Jeffrey Alan Smith, the Director of Visual and Performing Arts for Metro Nashville Public Schools, would become the focus of a high-speed chase that crosses multiple counties.
Things escalated late Friday afternoon when Metro Police put out a BOLO (Be On The Lookout) for an orange Nissan Murano. MNPD indicated the driver was wanted for a possible kidnapping and was considered armed and dangerous.
Cheatham County deputies found that car around 3:30 p.m. at a church along Highway 12. When the deputy pulled up behind the car and ordered the to surrender at gunpoint, he left at a high rate of speed.
Dashcam shows the 46-year-old driving over the double yellow lines, into other lanes of traffic, sometimes at speeds over 100 mph.
Deputies would later learn there were two children in this speeding car.
Once in Montgomery County, dashcam video showed the Murano wildly veering at a deputy laying out spikes from the side of the road. The car then drove through a crowded gas station and back onto the road.
By that time law officers from Cheatham and Montgomery were pursuing Smith who was speeding down a crowded Riverfront Drive in Clarksville.
After almost 30 minutes, the former MNPS Director crashed in a neighborhood. That’s when deputies chase one of the occupants who turned out to be a 13-year-old boy.
Once captured, the teen told law officers the driver of the Murano was his dad.
Bodycam captured the moment when Jeffrey Alan Smith was pulled from the car. He is screaming. According to Cheatham Deputies, Montgomery County law officers used a taser.
Metro Public Schools confirmed that Jeffrey Smith was the Director of Visual and Performing Arts and began with the public school system in October of 2018.
School officials declined to comment on why Smith was placed on administrative leave with pay earlier this month.
Smith was taken into custody on a multitude of charges in Montgomery County, including evading arrest, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, and aggravated assault against a first responder.
Cheatham County also has warrants waiting on Smith.
In his disciplinary letter obtained by News 2 school officials ordered Smith not to return to duties or contact anyone at MNPS, including students, parents, or coworkers pending the outcome of the investigation.