Teens cheat police, death in auto chase

Roxanne McKnight with The Meteor

A scene reminiscent of “The Dukes of Hazzard” occurred in northwest Madison County Sunday night, as a car, with Normangee police in hot pursuit, crossed a damaged bridge, barely escaping either detention or disaster as the structure crumbled beneath it.

Normangee Police Officer Rhonda Henry was summoned to a domestic disturbance in Normangee involving a 15-year-old girl attempting to run away from home in the early evening of July 27. By the time Henry arrived, the young girl had been picked up by two young men, approximately 16 and 21 years of age. Henry was seconds behind the trio and caught up with them on S.H. 3 heading toward Hilltop Lakes.

With speeds between 80 and 90 mph, she pursued the young people as they cut down Hopewell Cemetery Road to OSR. They then turned down West Caney Road with Henry right behind them. However, the dirt in the air was so thick, the police officer decided to slow down for safety.

“They were fishtailing all over the road,” said Henry. “I was about to call the chase for safety reasons when I ran out of road.”

Neither she nor the people she was pursuing knew that the West Caney Road Bridge had been burned two days earlier and was in no shape to handle traffic. County workers had piled mounds of dirt on both sides of the bridge to ensure no one tried to cross it, but the young driver had maneuvered his car around the dirt and attempted to cross the charred timbers of the bridge. As he crossed, half the bridge fell into the dry streambed below, but somehow he made it across and got away. Henry noted that if the car had gone into the streambed headfirst, all three would almost certainly have been killed or severely injured.

“If you or I had tried this, there would be funeral plans about now,” said Henry, “but somehow they did it. It was only the high rate of speed that saved them.”

Later that evening, Madison County deputies Poe and Cheney found the vehicle at a residence in North Zulch. The homeowner requested the car be removed, so it was towed away.

Henry said Poe and Cheney looked under the car and found broken pieces of charred 2x4s. She said there was extensive damage to the vehicle, both outside and in, though no blood was found.

The police checked local emergency rooms, but so far have found no trace of the three. Henry encouraged anyone who knows their whereabouts to call either the Normangee Police Department at 936-396-3691, or Crime Stoppers, which offers total anonymity, at 936-348-3100.