Update: South Roxana Police Apprehend Suspect Involved In Fleeing/Eluding Police Officer With Community/News Media Help

SOUTH ROXANA — South Roxana Police Chief Bob Coles asked for help early Tuesday afternoon, identifying a suspect involved in fleeing and eluding a police officer and after community and news media help, the suspect was quickly identified and apprehended later in the day.

Around 12:20 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 19, 2020, a police officer noticed a brown motorcycle with no visible registration, with a white male driver, brown hair, wearing a red Adidas hooded sweatshirt with black sweat pants, driving reckless in the 400 block of Chaffer in front of the Roxana High School, while the Roxana Junior High and Roxana High School were dismissing students.

"I would like to thank the citizens and the news media for helping the police department identify the subject so quickly and bring this case to closure," Chief Coles said. "The subject has been identified, interviewed, and is cooperative with the investigative process. The South Roxana Police Department will be filing charges related to the incident."

Coles added that the danger of fleeing from an officer is a poor decision that compounds the problem, enhances your criminal charges, and puts everyone in jeopardy.

"As the Chief of Police, I do not want to have to make a death notification to an innocent bystander, a fleeing suspect family or another officer's family member because someone panicked and tried not to deal with the consequences of their actions at the time when the officer tried to stop them," Coles said. "Fortunately, no one was hurt in the process and hopefully, this can be a teaching lesson on what not to do in the future for this person and others."

Chief Coles said the police officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop, the motorcycle, with the suspect as an operator, fled from the officer.

"Due to the safety concern of the students and the pedestrian traffic, the officer immediately terminated the pursuit," Coles said.

Chief Coles was thankful for the quick identification of the suspect and that no one was injured in the process. He also said he hopes the person learns a lesson from the unfortunate incident.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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