LAWRENCE CO., Ill.—Lawrence County law enforcement had their hands full last night as some folks running the streets apparently thought it would be fun to outrun the cops.
And unfortunately for Lawrence County, at least one of them was successful.
At about a quarter til 8 last night (Friday, July 12, 2014), authorities were in pursuit of a 4-wheeler west of Lawrenceville. This is the “one that got away”; reports indicate that the driver apparently scooted off the road and police lost sight of him in the vicinity of JV Pools; it remains unclear if that pursuit was on Highway 250 or back on the County Road where the business is located on the west side of town, but we’re working on that.
Then a little later, at about 11:45, reports came in about a Jeep Cherokee attempting to elude police in the area of Billet.
Dakota L. Thompson
Originally, deputies were attempting to stop the vehicle for improper lane usage. However, that didn’t happen…and this pursuit actually ended in a field (which is about the same, surface-wise speaking, anyway, as the roads in that part of the county, east off Illinois Highway 1 which runs north-south through Lawrence), and resulted in the discovery of four young people in the vehicle: Robert Dobyns (phonetical spelling for the time being), Dakota Thompson, Katlyn Grisham and Kelsie Martin.
Unfortunately for Thompson, he turned out to be on parole out of Richland County on a felony Burglary conviction there, and was reportedly wanted for failure to appear on the pay or appear status so many Richland crims get placed on instead of doing any meaningful time. So we’ll see if this situation impacts his status in Richland in any way.
More as we get it; check back.