On March 9th, 2023 at approximately 9:40PM, Dade County Deputies were advised that Fort Payne Alabama PD and the DeKalb County Alabama Sheriff’s Office were in pursuit of a mini van headed North on Interstate 59, toward Dade County.
Dade County Units waited at the state line, while Trenton PD units waited at the 9 mile marker to deploy spike strips.
When Dade County Units observed the fleeing vehicle enter Georgia, Dade County Units took the lead on the pursuit. The driver (Ronald Dale Sever , 60, of South Carolina) continued to flee from law enforcement at speeds around 90mph.
When the driver approached Exit 4 (Rising Fawn) on Interstate 59, he took the off ramp (where 2 more Dade County Deputies were waiting) and went West on Deer Head Cove Rd. While traveling on Deer Head Cove Rd, the driver intentionally struck multiple police vehicles. The driver drove in to the parking lot of a local gas station while continuing to flee, where there were patrons standing in the parking lot. Due to the extreme hazard of injury to a bystander, DeKalb County Units and Dade County Units used their patrol vehicles to terminate the pursuit.
The driver was then taken in to custody.
After being taken in to custody, it was found that the subject had an active felony warrant with full extradition out of Virginia Beach, Virginia. The warrant was for a probation violation, with the original charges being related to producing child pornography, failing to follow Virginia’s sex offender laws, and sexually assaulting two girls. Media outlets have also reported that he was convicted of sexual assault in Colorado in 1996. In 2009 the repeat sex offender was sentenced to 10 years in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Dade County Deputies charged Sever with the following charges:
Felony Fleeing/Attempting to Elude
Aggravated Assault on a Police Officer
Speeding
Reckless Driving
Failure to Obey Stop Sign
Driving While License Suspended
He is also being held on the warrant out of Virginia Beach.
Fort Payne PD will also have charges/warrants on the subject.
Sheriff Cross wants to thank all his deputies, Fort Payne PD, Trenton PD, and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office for their involvement in getting this offender off the streets and back in to custody.
“We work with our neighboring Alabama and Tennessee law enforcement almost daily, and we are very fortunate to have such a great working relationship with each of those agencies. We constantly work together to get drugs, dangerous offenders, and thieves out of our communities, and we will not stop until every last one of them is in jail!” -Sheriff Ray Cross
