SEVIERVILLE â A Kentucky man, charged with attempted murder after he struck employees at Gatlinburgâs Park Vista hotel, will face those charges in circuit court after a grand jury advanced the case against him.
Javier Gonzalez-Cruz, 21, of Louisville, Kentucky, has been in the Sevier County Jail ever since the April incident. His bond is set at $125,000.
On April 15, personnel at the hotel received notice that someone was making fraudulent charges at their facility.
When they approached Gonzalez-Cruz, he and a woman with him fled the hotel, according to police reports on the incident. Two employees pursued them into the parking lot, and Gonzalez-Cruzâs car struck them as he fled. One of the employees was flown to UT Medical Center, while the other was transported to LeConte Medical Center.
Pictured are SPD Chief Joseph Manning, Maj. Sam Hinson and
Sevierville City Administrator Russell Treadway.
SEVIERVILLE â The Sevierville Police Department announced the promotion of Captain Sam Hinson to deputy chief.
As deputy chief, Maj. Hinson will be second in command of the Police Department and will oversee the day to day operations of both the Operations and Support Bureaus.
Maj. Hinson has over 26 years of law enforcement experience and has been a supervisor in several units and divisions since 2004. He commanded both the Criminal Investigations Division and SWAT before being promoted to Captain. As captain, he took command of the Operations Bureau where he commanded Patrol, Criminal Investigations, SWAT, and the Crash Reconstruction team.
The warrants indicate they fled from police who approached their car, driving through the parking lot of a nearby Pilot gas station. The car struck a mailbox and drove âvery closeâ to an employee, according to the warrants.
Frisbee abandoned the car after it ran into the yard outside a home on Cherry Street and became stuck, damaging the property.
Officers arrested both Frisbee and Halstead a short time later. They eventually learned the car had been reported stolen as well.
They have charged Frisbee with shoplifting, felony possession of a stolen vehicle, driving without a license, evading arrest, reckless endangerment, two counts of failure to report an accident, and six counts of felony theft.