Man faces slaying charge

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, February 24, 2004

A Chelsea man faces a slaying charge after he was arrested Saturday in Birmingham for running over a relative in his stepfather’s pickup truck.

Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Scott Yarbrough, 20, of Chelsea, at about 9 a.m. Saturday.

According to Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputy Randy Christian, Yarbrough’s family woke up Saturday morning and noticed he was missing, along with his stepfather’s pickup truck.

The family, including Yarbrough’s mother, stepfather and Braxton Wayne Purser began looking for Yarbrough.

Purser, 19, of Hayden, is a nephew of Yarbrough’s stepfather, Christian said.

The family located Yarbrough and followed him from U.S. Highway 280 down U.S. Highway 119, and eventually onto Grants Mill Road. The family stopped Yarbrough at the on-ramp for Interstate 459 northbound.

&uot;They boxed him in,&uot; Christian said.

According to Christian, Yarbrough’s stepfather stood in front of the truck while his mother opened the driver’s door to get Yarbrough out of the truck.

Purser moved Yarbrough’s mother out of the way and attempted to reach in to turn the truck off when Yarbrough pushed him out and fled in the car, running over Purser with the rear tires.

Purser was pronounced dead at the scene, Christian said.

Later on Saturday morning, Yarbrough was spotted in north Birmingham where he abandoned the truck and ran into nearby woods off of Lewisburg Road.

Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputies found Yarbrough with a tracking dog and arrested him.

Yarbrough is being held in the Jefferson County Jail with a $50,000 bond. He was charged with murder.

Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale said the incident was a tragedy that resulted from poor decisions by Yarbrough.

&uot;I am quite sure that this suspect would like to go back and change some very poor decisions that led to this loss of life,&uot; Hale said. &uot;It is quite a tragedy.&uot;