KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced Wednesday that Steven Fletcher faced charges for allegedly hitting several TBI vehicles while driving a stolen SUV in Kingsport April 28.
The TBI stated in a release that Fletcher, 19, evaded arrest and rammed three of the agency’s vehicles. After he was detained, the Kingsport Police Department took Fletcher into custody.
Fletcher was indicted Wednesday on the following charges from the April 28 arrest:
- 2 counts of aggravated assault
- Felony evading arrest
- Reckless endangerment
- Vandalism over $10,000 but less than $60,000
- Vandalism over $1,000 but less than $2,500
- Vandalism under $1,000
The KPD also charged Fletcher with possessing stolen property under $10,000.
The TBI reports that the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) also charged Fletcher with violating probation the day after the alleged ramming incident.
News Channel 11 requested the TBI’s criminal history of Fletcher and found a significant amount of charges in 2021 and 2022. In the last two years, Fletcher has faced multiple charges from the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office, the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office and the KPD.
Several of Fletcher’s documented charges are driving-related and include multiple instances of evading arrest. The SCSO and KPD both charged Fletcher with aggravated assault in separate 2021 incidents; however, that charge from the KPD was dismissed in court in January 2022.
Fletcher’s charges go as far back as March 20, 2021 in the TBI’s history. On that date, he was charged by the KPD for driving without exercising due care, leaving the scene of an accident with damage to a vehicle, failure to report an accident, driving on a suspended license and failure to comply with financial responsibility.
The day after that incident, the TBI reports that the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office charged him with failure to exercise due care, leaving the scene of an accident, immediate notice of an accident and violation of financial responsibility.
In the time between those first charges and the April 28, 2022 incident involving the TBI, Fletcher was arrested by the three agencies several times on a variety of charges, with a trend of allegedly driving while his license was suspended and evading arrest.
The TBI criminal history states that in at least two court appearances, Fletcher pleaded guilty to resisting stop, arrest and search (fined $25 and sentenced to serve six months), evading arrest (fined $50 with sentence suspended except active probation) and driving while license suspended (fined $25 and sentenced to serve six months).
