JONESBORO, Ark. – While officers were responding to more calls of vehicle break-ins early Wednesday morning, the culprits took a wrong turn and ended up in the cross-hairs of an officer’s duty weapon.
Just before 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, police were dispatched to the 400-block of Albany Cove over another call about vehicles being broken into. However, an observant witness reported to police a light-colored Ford Mustang driving around and the occupants of said car scoping out potential vehicles to see if they were unlocked.
Police observed several vehicles broken into and while officers made contact with the vehicles’ owners, a nearby JPD officer noted he had just driven past a yellow Mustang. Officers on the scene knew it was the suspect vehicle and asked for it to be stopped. However, the vehicle took off.
On the scene, Officer Heath Loggains wrote he could hear a vehicle coming toward him, spinning its tires as it went around curves. On Charleston Street, he saw the suspect vehicle and it was driving toward him at a high rate of speed. He stepped to the edge of the roadway, pulled his duty pistol out along with his flashlight and aimed at the vehicle – whose driver wisely came to a stop.
The suspects, a juvenile, 17, Brice Alexander, 19, and Marielle Brownlee, 19, were all handcuffed and separated while the vehicle was searched. Officers Cameron Hogan and Heath Loggains began searching the vehicle and it didn’t take long to know they had found who they were looking for.
“In the vehicle, we found lots of stolen items and were able to get names and numbers for some of the owners,” Hogan reported. “This lead to the discovery of other vehicle break-ins in the surrounding area.”
Items recovered included:
- A red cell phone charger
- A black UnderArmor back pack
- A Bear State Bank debit card and checkbook
- Six books inside of the back pack
- A gym bag
- A Playstation 3, three controllers and a game
- Apple iPhone (cracked screen)
- Several debit or credit cards
- A Social Security card
- $170 in cash.
All three suspects were taken to Craighead County Detention Center, with the juvenile being separated into the juvi side. All face felony charges including breaking or entering, theft of $5,000 or less but over $1,000, and theft of credit/debit cards. Additionally, charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and careless and prohibited driving, misdemeanors, were filed against the adults.
With the frequency of break-ins in town and these suspects evidently having a penchant for the activity, JPD Information Specialist Paul Holmes indicated a follow-up investigation would be taking place.
“Detective McCanless is doing the follow up investigation and we should have additional information as it is developed,” Holmes said.
Be the first to comment