MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A man charged in a carjacking and police chase with Shelby County deputies was arraigned after being indicted by a Shelby County Grand Jury for carjacking and robbery.
According to court records, several charges against Jeraldo Chatman were dropped during a hearing on July 20, but he was indicted Nov. 28, on charges of carjacking and robbery. He remains in jail on a bond of $70,000. He was arraigned on the charges Dec. 14, and a public defender was assigned.
Court records show he has not yet been indicted in the chase, where he is charged with intentionally evading arrest in an automobile, and theft of property worth $100,000 to $60,000.
Carjacking & robbery charges
According to one of the affidavits against him, on June 17 just before 4 p.m., a woman was getting into her car in her driveway in the 600 block of Germantown Pkwy. when a man later identified as Chatman walked up and asked if she would drive him to a location. The affidavit said the woman asked where, and that's when Chatman dragged her out of the car by her shirt and drove away in her vehicle.
The chase that led to arrest
The chase happened a couple days later on Thursday, June 22, 2023. According to the affidavit for that crime, about 5 p.m. that evening, five deputies responded at Dexter Rd. and Appling Rd. about a carjacked Subaru Outback from the area of Arline Road south from I-40. This car was later recovered, according to the affidavit.
One of the deputies saw the Subaru and another deputy "activated emergency equipment" after verifying that the car was the one that was carjacked, according to the affidavit.
The driver of the Subaru refused to stop and accelerated south on Airline Road, according to the affidavit. A deputy pursued the car as it turned west on Highway 64 at a rate of high speed, according to the affidavit.
Two more deputies joined the first as the Subaru continued west on Highway 64, according to the affidavit. Deputies also joined the pursuit at Highway 64 and Houston Levee Road where the Subaru then went into oncoming traffic and started to drive recklessly, according to the affidavit.
Eventually the Subaru continued southbound on Berry Hill and turned West on Macon, according to the affidavit. It then turned north on Dexter Lane, then west on Dexter Road through Germantown Parkway and through the Appling Road intersection, according to the affidavit.
One of the deputies joined the pursuit and turned behind the vehicle to make contact with the rear driver side of it, according to the affidavit. The Subaru then wrecked into a car just west of the intersection, according to the affidavit.
Jeraldo Chatman then got out of the car on the passenger side and ran away southbound on foot into oncoming traffic, according to the affidavit.
He was stopped approximately 20 feet from the Subaru, according to the affidavit. He was detained, but became irate and began kicking as well as banging his head, according to the affidavit. He gave a fake name to the deputies that turned up as deceased, according to the affidavit.
A detective used facial recognition and then Chatman identified himself, according to the affidavit.
Chatman was seen fleeing with a plastic bag that deputies found, according to the affidavit. The affidavit said deputies searched the bag and located one small foiled wrapper consistent with narcotics as well as a marijuana grinder. This bag showed positive for fentanyl residue at a test in the MPD property room, according to the affidavit.
