Forsyth’s Highs arrested again, adding to long criminal histories
A 68-year-old Forsyth man was arrested for the 18th time in 12 years on May 13, this time for DUI, open container, hit-and-run and failure to maintain lane. According to the incident report, Jimmy Lee High of 2394 Old Zebulon Road was taken to the Monroe County Jail after a BOLO was issued on High for driving his red 2009 Chevy Impala up the wrong side of the I-75 S Cabaniss Road exit ramp.
As Sgt. Thomas Haskins and Cpl. Larry Sullivan approached the location, other callers reported that the Impala was traveling north on Hwy. 83 in the wrong lane and running vehicles off the road. Deputies found the car wrecked and abandoned in a ditch near KB Sutton Elementary School. Witnesses said High had left the scene in the back of another vehicle.
Dispatch then notified Haskins and Sullivan that George Chapman called and said he had taken High to Buice’s Garage on Hwy. 83.
Deputies went to the garage where High told them he had wrecked his Impala, however, he was going “to the police station”. Haskins could smell alcohol on him, he was unsteady on his feet and his eyes were red and bloodshot.
He admitted to drinking two or three “Bud Light beers’’. He consented to a sobriety test but, due to a hip injury, could only perform the eye test that showed clues of intoxication. He gave a high positive reading for mouth alcohol on an intoximeter and was handcuffed.
At the jail he registered .133 on the breathalyzer, nearly twice the legal limit. Three open Bud Light beers were found in High’s Impala.
It wasn’t High’s first visit to the jail. He was arrested on Dec. 28, 2022 after a fight in the parking lot of the Royal 7 convenience store on Cabiness Road. According to that report, Forsyth officer Jeffrey Burris found High fighting another man when High wrapped his arms around his foe and it appeared he was either trying to bite or kiss him. The other man was trying to push him away.
While trying to separate them, High resisted and was handcuffed. After reviewing store video, both High and the other man were arrested for public drunkenness, disorderly conduct and three open cans of Bud Light that were found in High’s vehicle. Both men were highly intoxicated.
The two most recent arrests are just the latest in a long list of interactions with local law enforcement. High was arrested for disorderly conduct 3 times in 2011. In 2012, he had 2 disorderly conduct charges, along with driving without a license, obstruction, failure to appear and battery. In 2013 he was jailed for disorderly conduct, two counts of battery, 2 charges of violating a family violence order, obstruction, aggravated stalking and violation of a habitual violator. High was a bit calmer in 2014, 2015 and 2019 with only one charge of disorderly conduct in those years. Then in 2020 he was jailed for simple battery. So far this year, he has been arrested twice.
Meanwhile, another Forsyth man also named High is gaining on Jimmy Lee High in the number of arrests after being charged on April 30. Quaderrius Kevon High, 36, has been jailed eight times mainly for disorderly conduct and property damage since November 2020. He was arrested again on April 30 for fighting at Captain D’s on North Lee Street. According to the report, High was charged with 2 counts of battery and disorderly conduct after officer Arthur Musselman responded to a fight-in-progress call at the restaurant. Dispatch told the officer people were fighting while others were hiding in the restrooms.
High had already left when Musselman arrived, but witnesses said he was in the restaurant being loud and threatening and making obscene finger gestures at employees and customers. The store’s manager, Demorio Zellner, stated that one customer became so upset by High’s behavior that she fled the restaurant without her food or a refund saying, “She was too scared of what the suspect might do”. The complainant stated he approached High and told him he had to leave the store and High began cursing and threatening him.
A 16-year-old employee, tried to break up the fight but High shoved the teen violently to the floor. He then pushed the manager into a corner next to the service counter and grabbed him around the neck, giving him a cut with his fingernails. The manager declined EMS and bandaged the wound himself.
Musselman found High at the intersection of Lee Street and Patrol Road in front of Wendy’s. After his arrest, High was taken again to the Monroe County Jail.
A month ago, on April 17, High was arrested after he damaged a wall in the Emergency Room of the Monroe County Hospital by head butting it, leaving him bleeding, because he was unhappy with the service he was getting.
On Nov. 15, High was charged with disorderly conduct and obstruction after jumping around and yelling from his front porch at 156 Willis Circle. He had to be tased after struggling with deputies, injuring one of them.
High was arrested for trespassing by Forsyth Police when he refused to leave the Royal Seven store on March 29, 2022. Sgt. David Asbell pulled his taser and High shouted, “f**k that taser!” before he was taken to jail.
On Jan. 25, 2022, High was charged with disorderly conduct and possession of drug-related objects. The repeat offender also received a charge of disorderly conduct on Jan. 9, 2022. He was charged with disorderly conduct on Dec. 3, 2021, and on Nov. 4, 2020, High was charged with 3 counts of trespassing and 2 counts of shoplifting.
“You’ve got to be good at something,” said Sheriff Brad Freeman.
