The Crazy Chase
It’s a summer evening shift at the Ft. Worth Police Department in 1983. I’m working the east side in a one man car. I’ve made several calls with a buddy of mine Kelly Davis. We’ve pulled up in the parking lot of a closed grocery store to finish paperwork and talk for a minute. As we talk the dispatcher comes on the radio, “Any unit close to fifty five thirteen E. Lancaster. Majestic liquors.”
Kelly and I look at each other because it’s right around the corner from where we’re sitting. Kelly picks up the microphone and answers, “Adam two twelve and two fifteen are right there.”
The dispatcher comes right back, “There’s a robbery in progress. A black male with a gun robbing Majestic liquors.”
Kelly told the dispatcher to put us on the scene as we screeched out of the parking lot. In seconds we came around the corner in time to see a car leaving the store’s parking lot at a high rate of speed. A man came running out of the store flagging us down. I told Kelly to talk to the man and see if that’s our guy. I switched on the red and blue overhead lights and the siren. I was pushing the accelerator to the floor hard. I called the dispatcher and told her I was in pursuit. I was gaining on the bad guy. Before Kelly could get the information to me, I figured out this was our guy. We’re traveling at a high rate of speed west bound on Lancaster back towards the downtown area. As I approach the car the driver sticks his hand out the window with a gun. The gun is turned backwards toward me. The man isn’t looking but he pulls the trigger. I had my window down and with the wind blowing through the car, the lights and siren, I still heard, pop, pop, pop. He’s shooting at me!
High speed chases are intense. When you add in gun shots you have a full adrenaline dump. I squinched down in the seat as much as possible to make a smaller target. It didn’t seem that anything hit me. We’re approaching speeds of 90 MPH on a four lane street probably seventy feet wide. I yelled into the radio, "Shots fired! Shots fired!" The dispatcher closed the channel for emergency traffic only. Everyone knew what was going on and moved that way.
Good ol Kelly still comes on the radio and tells me that’s our guy and he’s following with me. We went for several minutes, and he stuck the gun out of the window again. This time there’s only one shot. I inform the units on the channel and give continuous updates on our location. His brake lights came on and the nose of the car bounced forward. He was slowing down fast. He makes a left turn. As he turns there’s oncoming traffic, but he doesn’t care. When he makes his turn, he’s now at a ninety degree angle. He puts the gun out the window and he’s looking right at me. He pulls the trigger and two more shots pop off.
I can’t believe he didn’t hit the windshield. Kelly is now right behind me. We’re on side streets that are thirty feet wide going 70 MPH. The bad guy turns a few more times and slams into a curb, goes up in a yard and hits a tree. I come up behind him as he gets out of the car and runs. As he’s coming out of the car, he throws a gun in the grass. He runs through the front door with me behind him, and Kelly behind me. I figured this was his house but apparently it wasn’t. He ran straight through the house to the back door. I happened to notice an older couple in the living room standing up with a look of horror. The guy ran out the back door and down some steps into the yard. I jumped off the stairs and tackled him. Kelly came up and after a brief struggle the bad guy was handcuffed and ready for the patrol car.
The house he ran through was not his house. He just ran through the doors to get away. I felt bad for the older couple in the house. They were scared. I told them to make sure their doors were locked from now on. We walked out towards the police car and found the gun. The reason he didn't shoot at me when he got out of the car was, he had no more ammunition. It was a six shooter and he ran out of bullets. Officers started showing up to see what was going on. My Sargent showed up and asked if I was alright. I answered in the affirmative and he wanted to know if the car had been hit. I told him I didn’t think anything hit the car. He then said, “Good work. Take him down and book him for robbery and then get back out on the street.”
I looked at him funny, “So Sarge, no attempted capital murder?”
“No, the district attorney won’t take the charge anyway. Like I said, good job, now get back to work.” At least he had a big smile when he said it. I did as I was told and filed an armed robbery report at the liquor store. I did include in the report about shots fired during the high-speed chase. If nothing else, it might keep him from pleading to a lower crime.
It has always amazed me how things progress. No one knows about that incident in 1983, but if the same thing occurred in 2024 it would be all over the news. Now they have body cams, helicopter video, and the internet. We just did what we had to do then got drunk to forget about it.
