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May 21, 2016
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William J. Tibbitt, 54, of Ridgely, Md. was stopped after a making an illegal turn and running a red light in the third block of Rehoboth Avenue. Tibbitt, who was exhibiting signs of intoxication, fled from officers in his vehicle during standardized field sobriety testing only to be apprehended after a short pursuit.
Early Saturday morning, around 12:50am, a Rehoboth Beach Police officer observed Tibbitt driving a red Volkswagen Jetta with Maryland registration eastbound on Rehoboth Avenue approaching the Second Street intersection. After observing Tibbitt make two illegal turns and run a red light at the intersection, the officer stopped Tibbitt in the third block of Rehoboth Avenue westbound.
When he contacted Tibbitt in his vehicle, the officer saw that Tibbitt was showing signs of intoxication, leading him to begin standardized field sobriety testing. After Tibbitt completed in car field test, the officer ordered him to exit his vehicle to complete the remaining field test. Tibbitt refused ignoring multiple orders from the officer, started his vehicle and sped away from the location of the stop. The officer was forced to flee in the opposite direction on foot to avoid being struck by Tibbitt’s vehicle.
Once he was clear of Tibbitt’s vehicle, the officer returned to his patrol car and pursued Tibbitt with his emergency lights and siren activated. Tibbitt fled westbound on Rehoboth Avenue, turned southbound onto State Road, and finally westbound onto Grove Street where he stopped and surrendered to police without incident. Tibbitt was taken into custody and transported to Beebe Medical Center for a legal blood draw to allow for future blood content analysis.
Tibbitt was arrested and charged with 1 count of first degree felony reckless endangering creating a substantial risk of death or serious injury, 1 count of felony resisting arrest with force or violence and intentionally fleeing from a police officer, 1 count of driving a vehicle under the influence of a combination of alcohol and any drug, 1 count of failure to stop at a red light, 2 counts of failure to obey a traffic device, 1 count of driving a vehicle at an unreasonable speed, and 1 count of failure to have insurance identification in possession.
Tibbitt was presented to the Justice of the Peace Court 3 for a bond hearing and committed to the Sussex Correctional Institution lieu of a $2604.00 secured bail. Tibbitt is schedule for arraignment in the Justice of the Peace Court #3 today.
Presented by PIO Lt. Jaime B. Riddle.
