On 3/13/04, I responded to a call reference a gas drive off at the Tom Thumb #76. En route to the call, information was received via radio about the suspect and vehicle description along with direction of travel. The caller described the vehicle as an older model, large body vehicle that was a gray in color with a very large dent in the driver side front quarter panel. She stated the driver was a black male approximately 18-22, wearing a black jacket with a black dew rag on his head.
I responded to the Tom Thumb in approximately 3 minutes and made contact with the clerk, Ms Alexander. I attempted to gather further information from the clerk to clarify the vehicle and driver. The clerk stated the car would be very easy to identify due to the large dent. She stated the dent started just before the driver side door and continued to the front bumper. I dispatched this information to the units in the area attempting to locate the suspect vehicle.
After gathering all available information, I started out to canvas the area in an attempt to locate the suspect vehicle. Before completely pulling out of the parking lot, D/S D. Chamberlin stated he was behind the suspect vehicle and attempting a traffic stop. I immediately responded to his location to assist.
Once on scene, I observed a chevy caprice that fit the description perfectly. The driver side had the dent that was identical to the callers statement and two black male occupants in the age range of 18-22 fitting the description. I made contact with the driver Tywon Tatum and asked if he knew anything about the theft of gas. Tatum appeared to be deceptive in his answers. He stated he had no information about the gas drive and he had been in the car for the last hour. I asked if anyone else had used the car and he said, he had it pretty much all day. I observed the gas gauge and noted the fuel level to be above 3/4. Even though the driver had possession of the car almost all day and been driving for the last hour could not explain when he last received fuel.
