Team work pays off
There are times when law enforcement officers are faced with seemingly impossible situations and Thursday April 7, 2022 was one of those times. On patrol in Montgomery County a deputy encountered a black Dodge Charger that had committed a minor traffic violation. The deputy activated his blue lights signaling for the vehicle to pull over. Everything was going just fine until the driver decided that he didn’t want to be pulled over. The Dodge Charger accelerated and the chase was on. Traveling east on Highway 82 from Winona the speeds quickly exceeded 130 miles per hour. The Charger began to pull away from the deputy and it didn’t take long for the deputy to lose sight of the vehicle. It was in the area of Kilmichael that the vehicle was last seen. Searching the area turned up nothing. It is often said that “You can out run the police but you can’t out run their radio” but today it appeared that the suspect outran the police and his radio.
Then the situation changed. Sheriff Jeff Tompkins received a phone call. An attentive Montgomery County resident had seen something unusual and reported the situation. A black Dodge Charger had stopped on Minerva Road, backed up, then turned into a field road. The vehicle didn’t belong in the area so the property owner, Montgomery County Supervisor Ron Wood, was notified who in turn called Sheriff Tompkins.
With this valuable piece of information law enforcement swarmed the area. This swarming consisted of the pursuing deputy and a Kilmichael police officer. The area was vast and two officers were insufficient to secure the area. Moments later Sheriff Tompkins arrived with more deputies.
The vehicle was located backed up a woods road in an attempt to hide its location. Not knowing the reason for the driver eluding law enforcement, the deputies carefully approached the vehicle. Dark tinted windows prevented normal observation into the vehicle. After a few tense moments the deputies determined that no one was inside the vehicle.
Two sets of footprints could be seen leading away from the vehicle and deeper into the woods.
Winona Police Department Chief Roshaun Daniels was contacted and he gladly sent their K-9 and two additional officers. WPD’s K-9, “Snitch”, is among other things an extremely good tracking dog and fast too!
With nine law enforcement officers on the scene a perimeter was set up and the K-9 began to track the suspects. Over the hills and through the woods the officers tracked the suspects. Did I mention the dog is fast, at full sprint the dog and its handler took off on the trail. The suspects had a pretty good head start but “Snitch” was onto them.
As the track lead closer to an adjacent road the suspects were running out of options. The perimeter was tightened and the trap was set. With very few places for the suspects to hide, successfully capturing them seemed imminent.
On a dead end road one of the perimeter deputies noticed a car with out of county tags. The driver was the only person in the car. Highly suspicious due to the remoteness of the area the deputy gave the car space while keeping an eye on it. Knowing that the car had to turn around and come back, the deputy waited. A short time later the car came back out. The deputy made contact with the driver and two additional occupants. One of the occupants was identified as Walter Hamilton from Holly Springs. Hamilton happened to be the owner of the black Dodge Charger. Case solved.
Walter Hamilton made a poor decision to run from law enforcement, putting fellow motorists in danger and turning a minor traffic ticket into a felony crime. Hamilton was charged with Failure to Stop a Motor Vehicle When Officer Signals, which has a penalty of up to 5 years in jail. Hamilton was given a $50,000.00 bond.
It was because of team work that Hamilton was apprehended. Having a close working relationship with Winona Police Department and Kilmichael Police Department made a huge difference but without the help of a couple of watchful Montgomery County residents the car would have not been located in a timely manner.
Sheriff Tompkins would like to express his thanks and gratitude to Winona PD, Kilmichael PD and the Montgomery County residents who graciously assisted with this operation. But most of all we give credit to God almighty. To God be the Glory.
Original source can be found here.
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