Biloxi, MS - Harrison Co. Sheriff's Deputy's Patrol Car Stolen By Handcuffed DUI Suspect - All Day Helicopter  - K-9 Search

Four arrested in patrol car theft
Sun Herald 10 - 09 - 09
An all-day manhunt with a helicopter and K-9 dogs ended Saturday afternoon when Harrison County Sheriff personnel arrested the man wanted for the Friday night theft of one of their patrol cars. Three more people were arrested for helping him elude capture, plus two juveniles were detained.
Stephen Matlock Hagin, 21, Saucier, was apprehended about 5 p.m. in a wooded area near West Wortham Road in Harrison County, said Sheriff Department Maj. Ron Pullen, and will be charged with grand larceny, misdemeanor DUI and some traffic charges.

Three men who helped him have been jailed under $500 bond and charged as accessories after the fact of escape. They are Edward Perry, 45, of Morton Avenue in Saucier, Scott Beherens, 21, of Saucier Lizana Roadin Saucier, and Dallas Parvins, 22, of Heirn Avenue in Pass Christian.

Pullen said two juvenile females listed at runaways were also apprehended and are being detained for the Department of Human Services in Jackson.

Sgt. Brandon Ladner, a Harrison County narcotics investigator, is credited with Hagin’s apprehension, with the assistance of the helicopter unit.

Hagin drove off in the patrol car after he was arrested for driving under the influence about 8 p.m. Friday at East Wortham and Scarbrough Roads in Saucer, said Harrison County Sheriff Melvin Brisolara. He had been handcuffed and put in the back seat of the patrol car while the patrol officer prepared to call for a tow truck for Hagin’s vehicle, a 1998 Dodge truck.


“Hagin was able to get his hands in front of his body,” Brisolara said, “and entered Deputy Branning’s front seat of the patrol vehicle and drove away in the patrol car.”

Although the car was recovered about four miles away on U.S. 49, Hagin eluded deputies during a search Friday night that went on about five hours.

He still wore the handcuffs when he appeared around 9 a.m. Saturday in the Uncle Sam store on Robinwood Drive in Saucier and asked for help, Brisolara said.

Instead, employees noticed the handcuffs, called the sheriff’s office and Hagin fled the store on foot, Brisolara said.

“We’ve been chasing him ever since then,” Pullen said. Deputies quickly set up a perimeter and began searching with dogs and the helicopter, ultimately catching Hagin near the spot where it had all started.

The Harrison County jail docket shows Hagin, whose last address is in the 1900 block of Saucier Lizana Road in Saucier, was placed on probation in August for conviction of burglary of an occupied dwelling.
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