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Man cuts off penis while running from law
Police lights
Police lights
Published: Aug 27, 2021, 1:49 AM

A 39-year-old Cookeville man reportedly cut off his penis and tossed it out the car window as he was running from law enforcement Wednesday morning.

According to Dwayne Page of WJLE in Smithville, Tyson Gilbert severed and threw his penis out the window during a two-county chase from Dowelltown to Lebanon on Highway 70.

Gilbert reportedly said he heard voices on his car radio telling him to commit the act in order to save the world.

Trooper Bobby Johnson of the Tennessee Highway Patrol was the first to come across Gilbert after spotting his Honda Accord parked partially in the roadway on Highway 70 in Dowelltown.

“When I pulled up behind him and turned my lights on he took off and refused to stop,” Trooper Johnson told WJLE. “He was all over the road the whole time. He turned off on Old Liberty Road and came to a stop. He opened his door. He was naked and covered in blood. He then shut his door and kept driving.”

After traveling through spike strips in Alexandria and Watertown, officers were finally able to box Gilbert in and get him stopped on Highway 70 near Interstate 40. He was reportedly transported to Vanderbilt Medical Center for his self-inflicted injury.

“The first spike strips got one of his front tires and the second got the other tire,” said Trooper Johnson to WJLE. “The Wilson County Sheriff’s Department tried to spike him past Watertown but missed. After that it became a slow-speed pursuit with him running on his rims until we boxed him in.”

Gilbert has active warrants against him for other offenses in Cookeville.
Howell charged with arson for Dollar General fire
dg fire
Nikki Childers
Published: Apr 11, 2025, 9:06 PM

McMinnville Fire Department and McMinnville Police Department responded to a fire at the site of the Dollar General store located at 1001 Sparta Street at approximately 11:30 a.m. on Friday morning.

The blaze was allegedly set by a Matthew Howell subject, 19, who admitted to MPD Detective Chris Summers he was responsible for the crime.

"I responded to the Dollar General after receiving an arson call and met with Ben Cantrell," Summers said. "Howell matched the description of the male observed running from the store and he ran into the Tennessee Mental Health Consumers building."

According to the confession given by Howell, he had spoken to his mother on the phone and grown angry because she wouldn't pick him up right away and he ran from the building and to the Dollar General where he grabbed a torch lighter and began burning a bra.

Once Howell set the fire, he allegedly fled the building and wound up back in the parking lot of Tennessee Mental Health Consumers where Summers made contact with him and, after some initial reluctance, he reportedly admitted to setting the fire.

There were no injuries as a result of the fire, but there were three employees inside the building at the time of the blaze and Howell was taken into custody and charged with three counts of aggravated arson. Howell's bond is $30,000 and he is expected to appear in court on April 15.

According to Summers, the Dollar General appears to be a total loss due to the severe damages caused by the fire.