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Suspected... Sought... Caught! |
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Tuesday, 11 August 2009 |
By BRIAN HAWKINS
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A suspect in a predawn robbery on Saturday remains behind bars today after leading a Starkville Police Department sergeant on a high-speed chase that culminated in the officer being forced to shoot out the tires of his car to apprehend him.
The chase that led to the arrest of Antonio Nathaniel Payne, 37, of 1429 Louisville St., Apt. 4, on multiple felony charges started in east Starkville and ended in southern Lowndes County, SPD officials said Monday.
Payne remains jailed without bond today on charges of robbery, felony fleeing from a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and numerous traffic offenses.
In the incident, SPD Sgt. Steve Lyle was on patrol on Highway 182 at North Montgomery Street at about 3:15 a.m. Saturday when an E-911 operator radioed police of a robbery at the B-Quik convenience store at that intersection, according to SPD reports.
Pulling into the parking lot, the male clerk ran from the front door and told Lyle of the robbery and that the suspect had fled east on 182 driving a gold Buick that had been parked at one of the store’s gas pumps prior to the robbery.
Lyle headed east on 182, caught up with the suspect’s Buick near Waffle House and attempted to pull him over. The suspect then accelerated, turning onto Old Mayhew Road and into Highland Plantation, SPD reports state.
Luckily, there was hardly any traffic in the residential development as Lyle chased the suspect through the area.
“I met only one car as we were going into the Highland, and luck-
ily, they stopped when they saw me chasing this guy,” said Lyle on Monday.
Lyle continued chasing the suspect through Highland Plantation to Blackjack Road, where they turned east and continued until turning south onto Hickory Grove Road, which is unpaved.
“I could not see the (Buick) because of the dust, so I slowed down and followed the dust trail,” Lyle wrote in his report of the incident.
The chase continued south on Hickory Grove Road, then crossed over Artesia Road to Crawford Road before turning East on Redbud Road. They continued east on Redbud into Lowndes County until reaching U.S. 45 Alternate, crossing the four-lane highway onto Gilmer-Wilburn Road in Artesia.
“We followed it a ways until I lost sight of him,” Lyle wrote in his report.
“I turned left onto Hardy Billups Road and met him coming back, so I turned around and was chasing him again.”
Heading west toward U.S. 45 Alternate, Lyle said he could see blue lights from Oktibbeha County sheriff’s deputies and Mississippi State police officers who had responded as backup.
The suspect “must have seen them, too,” and his car veered sideways, allowing Lyle to attempt to block him with his patrol car, SPD reports state.
Lyle immediately stopped his car, got out and drew his gun, but the suspect was able to turn his car around and accelerate, “barrelling right at me,” Lyle said in his incident report.
“I moved as close to my car as I could, and he barely missed me,” Lyle said on Monday.
“He was trying to get away and didn’t care if he ran over me in the process.”
Lyle fired multiple shots at the Buick, shooting out the front and rear tires on the driver’s side. The suspect continued to drive the car eastward toward Artesia, and Lyle, who had gotten back into his car, followed him, SPD reports state.
After going about a half-mile, the suspect ran off the road and fled from the car on foot into a nearby field.
Arriving sheriff’s deputies and MSU police officers then joined Lyle in searching for the suspect, and Deputy Draper Williams soon had him custody. The money stolen from the B-Quik store was recovered, and the Buick was towed, reports state.
As Lyle was chasing the suspect and the deputies and MSU police joined in, the other SPD officers on duty backed off the chase and “kept the city secure” immediately following the incident, said Police Chief David Lindley on Monday.
“Sgt. Lyle is to be commended for using restraint and good judgment in what could have been a justified use of deadly force in stopping this suspect,” said Lindley. “He is commended for apprehending this dangerous suspect with no loss of life.”
Of particular concern was whether or not the suspect — who police identified as Payne — might have been armed, Lyle said.
Police officers later learned that the suspect robbed the B-Quik store under the guise of buying a soft drink and did not use a weapon, police reports state.
“I didn’t know if he was armed and I flew down 182 to catch up with him, which is when the chase started,” Lyle said Monday. “Until we had him in custody, I didn’t know if he had a weapon or not.”
His training and on-the-job experience paid off in the end, Lyle said.
“I owe all of what I did to my training and experience,” he said.
Saturday’s chase was the second high-speed pursuit in a two-month period for SPD officers responding to robbery incidents.
On July 12, two suspects in the robbery of the Sprint Mart convenience store on Highway 12 West at Airport Road and in the robbery of the Corky’s Package Store on Highway 12 East were caught by police after a high-speed chase ensued that took officers outside the city limits.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 12 August 2009 )
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