I live in the county in question most of my 53 years. Nope generally the deputies here don't go out of their way looking for people to arrest but they do watch for known chronic offenders. Most chronic offenders here also seem to want to make themselves known. Did the deputy recognize him? Yea likely so. If he hadn't the city PD also in the area would have. It's a rural county and Oliver Springs is a small town in it. Most of the town is actually in another county.
Had anyone been driving a riding mower say on a rural road nothing would have been said by any deputy unless it was a real busy road. I do it many times in a summer driving from one piece of family property to another to mow but my area is zoned agricultural.
This was inside a town on a busy four lane state hiway where people use the shoulder to enter and leave that hiway. IOW he had no business or reasonable cause to even have the mower there to start with which is what drew attention to himself. Four priors he knows what he can and can not do. He got caught.
Think about this though. If his trip was in driving distance or a riding mower it was also in walking distance right? The county LEO is the easiest to deal with here than the cops in Oak Ridge, Clinton, Oliver Springs, Norris, or Lake City. Norris a real small town is the most strict of all. I can name several towns in the county which would have added to his charges.
I'll explain the last part as well. The Cops can't make no one get help. Nor can the mans family for that matter. A few miles from this mans arrest a couple weeks ago in Oak Ridge a man with obviously some severe mental isues did a suicide by cop. That man had a history. Someone called in because he was acting very strange. The city LEO showed up and he pulled a knife. They ordered him to drop it. He didn't and charged them. They Tased him. He pulled the barb out and charged. They put the K-9 on him and he stabbed the dog. At that point he charged again and four officers fired. That man died. Why? because no one could make him get help. Not his family, not the cops, and he could not be locked up in a mental hospital against his will. Yet one woman started a petition trying to basically fault the cops in the incident.
Yea the guy no doubt needed help. In this area the cops are the ones who must deal with them. The parimedics can't due to dangers involved.
For what it's worth I think our county jail does have a ministry and several cops do try to help.
“Had anyone been driving a riding mower say on a rural road nothing would have been said by any deputy unless it was a real busy road.”
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Technically, the mower has the right of way because it is a piece of agricultural equipment.
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Doesn’t your state have the Marchman Act or the equivelent? There are civil commitments that are available to the police. All I can say is enjoy paying for the 9 or so months he is in your jail prior to sentencing and then his prison tab..
He was riding a mower. Has society come to this? Can’t be serious..