Caddo deputy arrests Carthage patrol car thief
Friday, April 23, 1999

The axiom that you might outrun the police car but you 
can't outrun the police radio proved true this morning
when a Caddo Parish sheriffs deputy spotted, chased 
and finally took into custody the Connecticut man who 
stole a Carthage (Texas) Police Department patrol car 
less than an hour earlier.

Sheriff's Deputy Kevin Dunn spotted the stolen patrol car
eastbound on I-20 at about 5:55 a.m. today. The patrol  
car was reported stolen from Carthage at about 5:30 a.m. 
When Dunn turned on his police lights to stop the car,
45-year-old Willie James Gibson, of New Britian, Conn., 
turned on the police lights in the stolen patrol car and
sped east on I-20 and took the Inner Loop exit. Dunn said 
the chase continued to the end of the Inner Loop, where 
Gibson turned west on Bert Kouns Industrial Loop.

Missing the Ellerbe Road turn off of Bert Kouns, 
Gibson drove the stolen patrol car across the grass 
and proceeded northbound on Ellerbe Road. Attempting 
to turn on to a side street in the 8800 block of
of Line Avenue, Gibson lost control of the patrol car 
and came to a stop on the lawn of a nearby restaurant. 
Dunn said Gibson got out of the car and ran north to 
railroad tracks about 200 yards away, where he tried
unsuccessfully to hide in the track-side ditch.

Sheriffs deputies booked Gibson at the Caddo Correctional
Center at about 8 a.m. today as a fugitive from Carthage,
Texas. In addition, Sheriff's Office charges include 
illegal possession of stolen things, aggravated flight 
from an officer, resisting an officer and reckless 
operation of a motor vehicle.

Gibson remains in the Caddo Parish jail pending bond being set.


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http://www.caddosheriff.org/pr/releases/RELEASES/1998-99/0423-01.htm