On the night of May 4, 2026, Deputy Aidyn Smith of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office investigated a suspicious vehicle parked with its lights off behind the Vandever Market in Crossville, TN. The driver, Zackery Ray Knight, was found to be operating the vehicle without a license. During the initial contact, Deputy Smith observed drug paraphernalia and an AR-15 rifle inside the car. When ordered to exit the vehicle, Knight refused, instead rapidly reversing the car and striking both a boulder and a gas pump barrier. Knight was subsequently taken into custody and now faces multiple charges, including felony evading arrest, simple possession, driving without a license, and introduction of contraband into a penal facility after he was caught with drug paraphernalia inside the jail.

The passenger, Anthony Shawn Dea, also refused repeated commands to exit the vehicle and was arrested for resisting stop, halt, or frisk. A subsequent search of the Mustang by several deputies uncovered three Buprenorphine Hydrochloride pills (a Schedule III controlled substance) inside a mislabeled prescription bottle, five cut straws containing a crystal-like residue, and ten pieces of burnt tinfoil. While the drug paraphernalia was destroyed, the pills were submitted to the TBI Lab for analysis, and the vehicle was towed from the scene. Both men were transported to the Cumberland County Jail, with Knight’s total bond set at $19,000 and Dea’s at $2,000.