Shoot and Run
By Sr. Agent Aron Hastings

The early morning hours of December 14th, 2003 ended up being a good shift for Sr. Agents Aron Hastings and Jamie Folse. The action started with two subjects using the headlights of their vehicle to shine Hwy. 3127 in St. James parish for deer. We watched as the men in a 1988 Oldsmobile passed up and down the road traveling approximately 30 miles per hour.

On the seventh circle that the vehicle made, it stopped completely on the shoulder of the road and fired off one round from what sounded like a shotgun. The driver of the vehicle pulled back on to the road and drove off. Agent Folse followed the vehicle (blacked out) for approximately one mile, before the driver decided to turn around again. Agent Folse had to quickly turn off the road and hide his truck down a dirt road, to keep from being seen. Agent Folse contacted me to let me know that the suspects in the vehicle had turned around and were headed back my way.
I watched as the driver of the car went completely off the road and drove up onto the grass, right in the same area of the shot, and where we had seen several does and a 4pt buck. The driver of the vehicle drove for 1/2 of a mile on the grass before returning to the road. I pursued the vehicle (blacked out) until Agent Folse had caught up to the action. After initiating my blue lights and sirens the driver of the vehicle did not seem to want to pull over. I could see the passenger of the vehicle fumbling with a shotgun, and it looked as if he was shucking shells. After the passenger had laid the shotgun back down the driver of the vehicle decided to pull over. A grand total of 10 tickets were issued and a Remington 870 shotgun (which was still loaded with buckshot) was seized.

Shortly after this, our dispatch called for a St. John unit. Sgt. Davis Madare (who had just gone on duty) responded. Dispatch had notified us that St. John deputies had a subject on the levee in Edgard bull-eyeing rabbits. Agent Folse and I responded as well, since we were only ten minutes away. When we arrived a man dressed in camouflage was standing between two St. John deputies. The man had a spot light, a 12 Ga. Shotgun and 1 rabbit. Of course, the subject had no identification on him but seemed pretty calm at the time while he was giving his information to us. After calling in his information, dispatch could not verify the name with the date of birth that he had given us.

I approached the subject and asked again for him to give us his correct information or he would be headed to jail. Apparently he did not want to hear this and decided to make a run for it! He ran down the levee and into the woods. Obviously, we could not let this guy get away from the game wardens, so Agent Folse and I ran after him. The subject made it about seventy yards before he was tackled and handcuffed. He was escorted to the back seat of the deputies unit and booked into jail. In addition to being charged with hunting wild quadrupeds during illegal hours, he was also booked for flight from an officer, resisting an officer and giving false information during a misdemeanor. Not surprisingly, a warrant was out for his arrest, for contempt of court. All in all, not a bad nights work!