Stevie - I think that Shamu was a plain Jane hopped up Pony car. Curiously tho, DPS is not mentioned in article that I just located.
It does not appear that the women's panties in his pocket provided very much "good luck".
:D
http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/r ... 07ef0.html
Suspect leads authorities in wild chase through area cities
07:11 AM CDT on Tuesday, August 9, 2005
By Donna Fielder / Staff Writer
A suspected car burglar led several law enforcement agencies across southwest Denton County Monday morning in a chase that at times involved gunfire, a rammed squad car, a damaged trailer, a spinout and a foot chase before it ended in the man’s arrest in Justin.
John Reed
John William Reed Jr., 35, of Seymour was awaiting arraignment on several felony charges, including two charges of aggravated assault of a peace officer, Monday afternoon. He could not be reached for comment.
The incident started at 9:47 a.m. in Denton when an employee of Jostens Inc. reported a man was attempting to break into cars in the parking lot in the 3500 block of South Interstate 35E. Two Denton motorcycle officers were nearby and spotted the man, who jumped into a silver Jeep Cherokee and fled, said Denton Officer Jim Bryan.
“It began to rain, and it’s too dangerous for motorcycles at high speeds in the rain, so the motorcycle officers stopped the pursuit,� Bryan said.
Denton radioed a description of the Jeep to area law enforcement agencies, the Denton spokesman said.
Denton County sheriff’s deputies blocked roads in the area, said spokesman Tom Reedy. Officers from Argyle, Justin, Double Oak, Constable Precinct 4 and Northlake joined the pursuit that led across the southwest part of the county at speeds of up to 100 mph.
Precinct 4 Deputy Constable Barry Minoff is assigned to patrol the Bartonville area. He heard the radio call and realized he was near the fleeing Jeep, he said. He turned from FM407 onto Copper Canyon Road.
“I didn’t get more than a couple hundred feet till I met him and he tried to hit me head-on,� Minoff said. “I swerved into the median to avoid him. I hadn’t even joined the pursuit at that point, but I turned around and was second behind Double Oak [police].�
The chase led through Bartonville and Flower Mound, through Argyle and Northlake, with officers from those agencies joining the pursuit.
A Justin unit joined the fray when the chase entered the officer’s city limits, where the Jeep abruptly turned into a construction site, Minoff said. The suspect lost control and struck a flatbed trailer.
A Double Oak officer, thinking the pursuit was over, pulled behind the Jeep, the constable said. The Jeep rammed the Double Oak squad car. A Justin officer fired at the tires of the Jeep in an attempt to stop it, but the driver took off again.
A mile farther, the Jeep struck a tree, Minoff said.
“I parked directly behind him. I got out with my weapon drawn. All of a sudden, I saw the reverse lights come on. He started backing up. He tried to run me over,� Minoff said. “I was in fear of my life. I fired five shots into his tires.�
But that still didn’t stop the Jeep. The driver threw the Jeep into forward gear and drove off again on flat tires.
The vehicles were on FM407 again when an Argyle unit performed a “pursuit intervention technique.� The Argyle squad car struck the back left of the Jeep with its right front, which spun the Jeep around. It came to rest in a ditch.
But the driver wasn’t through running. He jumped out and led the officers on a short foot chase over a fence before he was caught and handcuffed.
Reedy said a search of the man’s pockets revealed a flat-head screwdriver, a stolen wallet containing someone else’s identification and two pair of women’s panties, which the suspect said were for good luck.
He was still being questioned Monday evening but was expected to be transported to the Denton County Jail while the agencies sorted out the charges and who would file them.
DONNA FIELDER can be reached at 940-566-6885. Her e-mail address is
dfielder@dentonrc.com