Stolen TVs recovered after pursuit

By SUSAN THACKER

A Hutchinson man who reportedly walked out of the Great Bend Wal-Mart Supercenter with three stolen TVs on Thursday was arrested after a vehicular pursuit through Barton County.

Lt. Bill Browne at the Great Bend Police Department said three flat-screen televisions — one 19-inch model and two 22-inch models — were loaded into a shopping cart and rolled to a white Toyota in the parking lot. They were still in the boxes with magnetic security devices attached.

Someone noticed and yelled for the suspect to stop. Sources said the suspect left the store through the lawn and garden section, and a customer who was in the parking lot called 911 after witnessing his hasty retreat. That citizen got a description of the car and followed it.

As the event was broadcast over police radios, the Barton County Sheriff’s Office got involved, Sheriff Greg Armstrong said. Soon the Kansas Highway Patrol, Kansas Fish and Game and the Hoisington chief of police were involved. KHP had units on the ground and in the air.

The car was headed toward Cheyenne Bottoms when it dropped out of sight, but was spotted when it entered K-156 south of Claflin. KHP Trooper Darrin Hirsh pursued the Toyota for about six miles. Stop sticks were used in an attempt to stop the car, but the driver went into the ditch to avoid them. “At that point it becomes a felony,” Hirsh said.

The driver, later identified as 28-year-old Abram Williams of Hutchinson, came back onto the highway and attempted a U-turn, but pursuing vehicles had time to pin him in. Williams surrendered without further incident.

“Had we not had a private citizen call in, we wouldn’t have caught him,” Hirsh said.

Williams was taken to the county jail.