Cornith, TX - Handcuffed Prisoner Steals Squad Car with K-9 inside - DPS Helicopter Spotted him during Chase
 

Man arrested after leading Corinth police on chase in Denton



11:38 AM CDT on Friday, April 7, 2006
By DONNA FIELDER / Denton Record-Chronicle


Two Corinth squad cars sped into Denton with emergency lights flashing early Thursday. One was chasing the other.

A police dog was a passenger in the first car, which was being driven by a handcuffed man a Corinth officer had taken into custody moments earlier.

Corinth police were in the second car, attempting to reclaim their K-9 unit.

The suspect abandoned the car and the dog on the shoulder of Interstate 35E in south Denton and hid in some woods, where a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter later spotted him with a heat-sensing device.

"I was apparently not in my right mind to do what I did," said Tracy Bryan Hicks, 38, of Carrollton, now charged with theft over $20,000, escape, unlawfully carrying a weapon, giving false identifying information and fraudulent use of identifying information.


Outstanding warrants

Mr. Hicks said in an interview at the jail Thursday that he believed he had outstanding arrest warrants and that when he saw an officer remove a pistol from his car he knew he was in real trouble.

"I've had more than bad luck with police," he said. "It ruined my day."

Corinth police Sgt. David Allen said Officer Bryan Nodine stopped Mr. Hicks for speeding shortly before 2 a.m. Mr. Hicks had been heading northbound on Interstate 35E in a 1989 Lincoln. He stopped for the officer north of Swisher Road. Mr. Hicks said he was on his way to see a friend at the time.

Sgt. Allen said Officer Nodine was suspicious when the driver claimed he didn't have his driver's license with him and hesitated before giving his name. When the officer asked about the car's ownership, the driver had to search through the glove box to find the legal owner's name on the insurance record.

A search later revealed a handgun illegally concealed in the car, police said.

Sgt. Allen said Officer Nodine continued to question the driver, and that the driver admitted he had given a false name. Mr. Hicks had recently purchased the car, the sergeant said.

The officer arrested Mr. Hicks on the failure to identify charge and secured his hands behind his back. He buckled the seat belt across Mr. Hicks in the front passenger seat of the squad car because the police dog occupied the back seat.

The officer was conferring with another officer on the scene when the squad car, lights still flashing, took off at a high rate of speed. The officers pursued and radioed for help from other agencies.

"Hicks isn't a big guy, and he was able to move his hands under his legs and get his arms around in front," Sgt. Allen said. "Still handcuffed, he slid across the seat and took off in the car."

Mr. Hicks worked for six years as a dispatcher at the Dallas County Sheriff's Department and has been a cable company supervisor, he said. He currently is unemployed.


Prior arrests

Through a series of misunderstandings, Mr. Hicks said, he has been arrested three times on weapons charges but only convicted once. He also has a conviction for impersonating a police officer and also has previously been arrested on charges of possession of methamphetamines.

He said he made a $100 down payment on the car a week ago and had no idea the pistol was concealed inside.

Mr. Hicks said that an acquaintance had forged checks in his name and that he believed there were outstanding warrants for his arrest because of that. So he gave the false name but soon admitted he had lied, he said.


'I panicked'

"I panicked," he said of his decision to flee in the squad car. "I'd never seen the gun before. He pulled me over for going six miles over the speed limit, and that told me he already believed I was a criminal and was looking to roust me. I knew I didn't want to go back to jail."

Officers from Hickory Creek, Denton and the sheriff's office responded.

Barking from the dog helped convince him that he needed to pull the squad car over.

"I came to the realization that I was doing a stupid thing and might get the dog hurt," he said. "Had the dog not been there, I would have run into a brick wall to keep from going to jail."

He said he ran through a muddy construction site and laid down, keeping still while the officers and a tracking dog searched for him. About 5 a.m., the DPS helicopter located him.

He was taken into custody without incident.

"I wish I could take it all back," he said. "I know there's no way I can erase this. It's just plain stupid."

E-mail dfielder@dentonrc.com

Back