How Not To Escape Police Custody
Arrested on February 27th for kidnapping and robbery, Darrell Smith decided to forgo his hearing on Monday, March 1st. He claimed he was sick and needed to go back to jail. On the way back to jail, however, he made a break for freedom, deputies say.
Running through downtown Ephrata, Washington, Smith allegedly stole a grain truck that he found in a shed. He drove 20 miles to Moses Lake with law enforcement officers right behind him at speeds of 60-65 miles per hour. When he reached Moses Lake, he ignored the lights and sirens behind him and pulled off the road -- heading directly for the water.
"He left the roadway at full speed," said Sgt. Ken Jones, who was in pursuit. "He turned that big old truck into a dune buggy. He made several jumps because of the berms out there on the hill. My estimate is that he was 3 or 3-1/2 feet in the air at times. It was just like Dukes of Hazzard, all four tires in the air. It was crazy."
Reaching the Lake, Smith then jumped out of the vehicle and, clad in his prison jumpsuit and handcuffs, fell into the water and started swimming. He didn't get very far. When he'd swam about fifteen feet offshore, he started having trouble staying afloat. Afraid for his life, he called out to the two officers for help.
"He started yelling, 'Help, I'm drowning!'" Jones said.
KATU-TV reports that with that, "Jones and the other deputy looked at each other." We'll bet!
"We both undressed and jumped in," Jones said.
"When we got back to shore, he looked me right in the face and said, 'You just saved my life. Thank you,' ''' said Jones. Yeah, well, don't rub it in!
"You can't make this stuff up. It's a made-for-TV movie," said Grant County Undersheriff John Turley. Yeah, well, maybe a bad one.
Smith earned a ride to the hospital to be checked out while the two deputies dried off. For the trouble of his wild ride, there are now several new felony charges against him.
We don't think Sheriff Roscoe ever had to rescue Bo and Luke Duke. But then, he was never able to make the charges stick, either.
Source: KATU-TV
Free Weird Newsletter |
Most Recent Comments
Posted by Sixten, Finland on March 20, 2010:
He can thank his Maker that this did not happen in GB, because then he would have drowned as the "Health and Safety" Gestapo regulations would have forbidden the officers to risk their lives to help him but to wait for trained divers to arrive. Well, it would not have been a great loss.
Posted by Bob in Illinois on March 22, 2010:
I was thinking that on the Dukes of Hazzard, wasn't it Bo and Luke that had to rescue Roscoe?
Posted by Russ, Washington on March 24, 2010:
Several years ago (about 86 or 87) I was sitting in my Office looking out the window and across the parking lot was a set of train tracks. We saw this guy, walking a little hunched over. He would stop, sink down below the brush, and then look up and around (like someone hiding from someone). We thought he was on drugs or something. We called the Police thinking he needed medical help. "Where is he?" came the reply from the police "We've been looking for him". It turns out he had escaped the city jail still in leg irons and hand cuffs. I am not sure how he got across a major 4 lane road with a center turn lane, and down another road for two blocks before he got to the railroad tracks all without being seen.