KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A Knox County man who pleaded guilty to trying to kill two Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers during a January 2020 shootout while he was carrying a large amount of drugs was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Friday.
Cody Andrew Seals, 27, was accused of shooting and wounding authorities after he was pulled over in Hamilton County while carrying around 1.5 kilograms of meth and 500 grams of heroin. Authorities accused him of getting the drugs from a person at the center of a large federal investigation.
Prosecutors said at the time, federal law enforcement agents were investigating a Mexican drug trafficking cartel that distributed hundreds of kilograms of meth in East Tennessee. It said they saw Seals drive up to a hotel to buy a large amount of drugs, and law enforcement started following him after he left. They asked THP to pull over his vehicle, according to a release from the Department of Justice.
When troopers tried to pull him over, Seals began driving away and fired a gun at the troopers, prosecutors said. After a chase, troopers managed to stop his car on Highway 27, north of Chattanooga. They said he then got out of his truck and started firing a rifle, hitting one trooper in the leg.
Law enforcement shot back, wounding Seals. He stopped shooting and was arrested, prosecutors said. Troopers searched his truck and found the drugs, according to the release.
Seals pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, shooting a gun to further a drug trafficking crime, and attempting to murder two THP troopers.