By Heather Michon, correspondent
Travis Scott Dooley made his first appearance in Fluvanna General District Court Tuesday (Jan. 16) on one misdemeanor count of reckless driving and one felony count of eluding police.
He was ordered to return to court Feb. 13.
Dooley was arrested around 12:45 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 7.
According to police reports, a vehicle passed a radar speed checkpoint on Route 600 (South Boston Road) at more than 80 miles per hour (mph). The speed limit on Route 600 is 45 mph.
“The deputy activated his blue emergency light on his marked patrol vehicle to initiate a traffic stop,” Capt. David Wells of the Fluvanna County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a press release. “The speeding vehicle failed to stop and continued to travel away from the deputy at a high rate of speed.”
Dooley was found sitting in the driver’s seat of that car in a parking lot in the Abby Road area on Route 600, where he was taken into custody.
The public knows more about Dooley’s case than the average traffic stop due to an erroneous report by Richmond’s WTVR6, which reported Jan. 12 that Dooley was written a summons and allowed to drive home after his arrest.
Wells released a lengthy press release and documentation later that day, showing that Dooley had been handcuffed and brought before a magistrate for a probable cause hearing the night of his arrest. The magistrate also set a $10,000 bond.
WTVR6 later corrected its report.
Law enforcement also found an unknown pill that Dooley is believed to have possessed, according to the release. The pill will be tested at the Department of Forensic Sciences lab.
Richmond City Police were notified of the incident and Dooley has been placed on administrative leave without pay.
Dooley was already on paid administrative leave after a Dec. 15 use-of-force incident during a chase with a man on a shooting spree. Richmond media accounts say the suspect shot at Dooley with an automatic weapon before Dooley returned fire, hitting the suspect in the leg.
Three days before his arrest on speeding and eluding charges, court records show Dooley was charged in Fluvanna with a misdemeanor count of “profane language over a public airway.” His lawyer requested that case be heard Feb. 13 with the more recent charges.
