YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE

By Sr. Agent Rick Markway

One of the realities of our job of enforcing the laws of the State of Louisiana is that we do not necessarily need to “bust” the violator at the scene in order to make the case. Such was the situation on the night of November 12, 2003. I had just returned from Wednesday night church service with my family and was settling in to watch one of my favorite TV shows when the phone rang. The caller told me he had heard shots fired and had seen an ATV leaving the area. He told me he had a good idea of who the suspect was and thought that he would return to the area. He said the suspect had come by earlier in the day to recruit his son for some night time deer hunting. Needless to say, I didn’t get to watch any TV that night.

I went to the area in question and was driving “black out” down the road where the four wheeler had been seen. Suddenly I heard the sound of an ATV coming up behind me, also “blacked out.” I knew that I was going to have a tricky situation real soon! I waited until the four wheeler was fairly close to me and then turned on my headlights. The man driving the four wheeler also turned on his lights and rapidly passed me by on the dead end road. I engaged my blue lights and the chase was on!

The suspect was dressed in camouflage and had a shotgun in his lap. I stayed right behind him as he did his best to outrun my unit. I had several opportunities to force his vehicle off the road ( isn’t that what they always do in the movies?), but realized that the danger of doing something like that didn’t fit the crime that had been committed. The man drove his four wheeler down the road as far as he could and then made a high speed turn onto a logging road, expecting me to stop giving chase. The logging road was in good shape, however, so I continued to pursue the suspect with him slowing down and speeding up in an effort to elude me. At the end of the road the man drove his ATV into an area of thick cut over and the chase was over for me at that point. I got out of my truck and heard him as he tore through the thick cover away from me. I drove back to the main road in hopes that he would come back to it, but did not hear the ATV at all after that. It looked like a stalemate as it appeared he was waiting me out.

At this time I knew that I was going to need some back up and I called Sgt. Eric Stokes and Senior Agent Spencer Cole who were in the area. As I was waiting for them to arrive I went to the suspect’s house to await his arrival. He never did return, but when Stokes and Cole arrived we started an investigation that lasted into the early hours of the following morning. We were able to find the suspect’s camo cap along the trail that he blazed through a mile or so of cut over. The following morning I returned and found the shotgun that the suspect had thrown once he hit the cut over. It was loaded with buckshot.

We found out why the man ran when we learned that he is a convicted felon who was in possession of a firearm. We were able to get statements from reliable sources to place the man at the scene. The brand new four wheeler (one payment had been made on it) was later found and it was in pretty bad shape from the “off road” running. All in all the suspect received nine citations for his “night time activities.” You can run, but you can’t hide!”