Teenagers lose appeal and driving privileges

By Doug Thompson

Two Floyd County teenagers caught traveling in their cars side-by-side at 84 miles per hour on U.S. 221 in Floyd County in October 2009 lost an appeal and their driving privileges Tuesday.
Jacob Kane Nolen, 19, and Alisha Ann Gray, 18, ran Trooper Tony Mackian off the road as they ran their cars side by side northbound on U.S. 221 near Midway on October 11, 2009. Mackian had to drive onto the shoulder of the southbound lane to miss the oncoming cars.
Mackian told visiting Circuit Judge Brett L. Geisler that he spotted the oncoming cars as he drove south on the road at night, clocked them at 84 mph on radar and then took evasive action to avoid a head-on collision.
The trooper said Nolen was driving in the northbound lane at 29 miles per hour over the speed limit, and Gray's vehicle was headed northbound in the no passing zone of the southbound lane.
Mackian said he chased down Gray's car at speeds up to 115 mph and radioed the Floyd County Sheriff's Department, which stopped Nolen's pickup truck at Slaughters’ Supermarket.
Nolen, Mackiain testified, later told him that he and Gray had had an argument. He ticketed Nolen for reckless driving and racing and Gray for reckless driving and driving in a no passing zone.
Both were convicted of the charges in General District court on March 11 and lost their licenses, but they appealed the convictions to Circuit Court.
In testimony, both Gray and Nolen denied having an argument and said they were "hanging out" at Gray's mother's house and that each was headed home when Gray tried to pass Nolen and could not complete the pass before entering the no passing zone. Both admitted speeding but said they were not racing.
Nolen said he was "shook up" by the incident and may have told Mackian that he and Gray had been fighting as an "excuse" for what happened.
Both argued that they could not afford to lose their licenses because they worked and go to school, but Judge Geisler called their actions "stupid" and "dangerous" and said such acts carried consequences.
"You were doing stupid, dangerous things with dangerous machines," Geisler said. "You were lucky that no one was killed or seriously injured."
Geisler dismissed the racing charge against Nolen but fined him $400 and suspended his license for 90 days on the reckless driving charge. The judge called Gray's actions the "more serious" of the charges and suspended her license for 60 days along with a $400 fine on the reckless driving charge and $100 fine and 10-day suspension for driving in the wrong lane.
On a motion from defense attorney Angi M. Simkins, Geisler granted both restricted drivers licenses for use to drive to and from work and to and from school but said they must not use their cars for any other purpose, put a 30-minute time restriction before and after work and school and required them to keep detailed records on use of the cars.
"If you break these rules, your licenses will be revoked," he warned.
In another matter before the court Tuesday, Geisler gave Steven Ray Dalton 60 days in jail for failure to appear and failure to pay court costs, then suspended 30 days and gave Dalton credit for time served.
The judge also told Dalton to start a payment plan on court costs by Aug. 1 or face more jail.