Brian Ball
WHITE CO., Ill. - A deputy out searching for the escaped inmates from White County Jail in Carmi, Illinois, came upon an individual who turned out to not be one of the two, but someone who managed to get himself arrested anyway.
Deputy Randy Graves reported that yesterday (Sunday, June 17) at approximately 10:36 a.m., he along with multiple officers from the Norris City and Carmi police departments and the White County Sheriff's Department were in the Norris City area checking for the White County escapees, Zac Shock and Johnny Tipton.
At that point, the sheriff's department was notified of a person meeting the description of one of the suspects walking down Route 1 just a few miles north of Norris City.
All officers hurried to the area and set up at intersections between 550 East and Norris City at the lakes. Graves and Sheriff Doug Maier drove the old railroad tracks from 550 East to Norris City. Graves used his own personal side-by-side four-wheeler to drive the tracks; however, they didn't locate the suspect anywhere along the tracks. At the location of the lakes in Norris City, Maier exited the side-by-side and rode with another officer to his squad care, with Graves driving the side-by-side on the back roads headed back toward his residence.
While driving back home, Graves kept a lookout for the possible escapees. At the location of 400 East at 820 North, he observed an older red Chevy car turning onto 400E from the Corrin Russell residence, which is approximately a quarter-mile north of Route 1 in the same general area they'd been searching previously.
Graves pulled up next to the person, a white male with brown hair and age ranging from the 20s to the 30s. Although Graves was in his personal ATV, he was wearing a sheriff's department hat (with "sheriff" displayed on the front), a bulletproof vest with black undershirt, sheriff's duty belt with radio and all the items for duty, including a gun and TASER. Graves advised the individual to stop, and he identified himself as a sheriff's deputy, but the man never looked at him closely, Graves said, but acknowledged him and pointed as if he were going to pull over to the side of the roadway.
Instead, he sped off, headed south toward Route 1.
Graves contacted all units on his radio to advise them of the incident, and noted that when the suspect got to Route 1 at the stop sign, he had to stop due to cars driving on 1. He was attempting to turn left, headed toward Carmi, so Graves pulled his side-by-side to the left side of the red Chevy to keep the driver from turning left.
Instead, he turned to the right, doing a U-turn, and heading back north on 400E. The suspect then sped back to the same location he came from at 820N at 400E. The suspect tried to exit the car on the driver's side as an attempt to flee from Graves, but Graves was able to drive his side-by-side up next to the driver's side door to enclose the suspect in the vehicle.
Graves pulled his service weapon and ordered the person out of the vehicle at gunpoint.
The man exited his window, and was ordered to the ground; he was handcuffed without further incident.
After getting a closer look at the suspect, who was later identified as Brian Ball, Graves was able to determine that at least it wasn't Zac Shock. Ball advised Graves of his name and told him that he was trying to get away from the deputy, due to Ball being a suspended driver.
Graves awaited for backup to arrive before getting Ball off the ground, in the interim explaining to Ball what he (Graves) was doing out there and the importance of trying to stop Ball and speak to him, as it pertained to the safety of those in the area regarding the fact that two inmates were still at large...and Ball somewhat fit the description of one of them.
Ball was patted down, and an Altoids container was located in the front pocket of the shorts he was wearing. Bal advised that the items inside were 15 hits of acid (LSD). The suspected acid was white on one side with multi-colored drawings on the other side. It was taken into evidence.
Norris City police Officer Shain Stokes assisted Sgt. Craig Poole of the White County Sheriff's Office in a tow inventory of the vehicle which located a black-colored sunglass carrier with a glass smoking pipe. The pipe was located under the driver's side seat. The pipe field-tested positive for meth. It was tagged as exhibit 2, and the vehicle was towed by Jimmy Hoskins from the scene.
Ball was taken in on arresting charges of Possession of Meth, Possession of a Controlled Substance, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. He remained in custody of the White County Jail as of this morning, Monday, June 18.