Anchorage Daily News

Airmen help nab suspect in theft

PURSUIT: Chase through Mountain View ends in school hallway.
By MEGAN HOLLAND
Anchorage Daily News

Published: November 9, 2005
Last Modified: November 9, 2005 at 07:19 AM

A thief who bolted in a New Sagaya truck Tuesday morning while the driver was making a delivery led two Elmendorf airmen on a chase through Mountain View before the pair caught him in a Clark Middle School hallway, Anchorage police said.

The pursuit that began in vehicles at the Northway Mall ended on foot at the middle school where the airmen and school officials held Chester Love, 54, until police arrived. Love was charged with first-degree vehicle theft, police said.

The drama began Tuesday around 11 a.m. when an unarmed man slipped into the driver's seat of the New Sagaya box truck, parked near the curb of the mall with the keys inside and the engine running.

The deliveryman, who was not identified by police or the business, was nearby doing paperwork in the cold weather with a customer, Lt. Paul Honeman said.

Meanwhile, Staff Sgts. William Young, 31, and Joseph Harder, 28, said they were on their way to a colleague's going-away lunch near the mall when the truck swerved in front of their Nissan pickup. Behind the truck was the deliveryman.

"His eyes were big. His hands were in the air. He was trying to flag the truck down," Harder said. "He was mad."

Both men, ground equipment mechanics at Elmendorf Air Force Base, said they took after the truck and the pursuit led them on a tour of Mountain View .

"In the military, we have a responsibility -- whether it's on the streets of Anchorage or Bagdad -- to do the right thing," Young said.

With the door to the back of the truck open, Young said he could see palettes and what looked like 50-pound bags of rice and boxes.

"He did quite a bit of flying around," Young said. "But it wasn't like he was blowing through streets or anything."

The pursuit lasted six to seven minutes through streets and alleys, the men and police said. The airmen only slowed to tell pedestrians to call police.

Harder said, "There was no plan at the time. I just kind of assumed the cops are going to show up here shortly."

"We were just kind of amazed the whole thing was going on," Young said.

The suspected thief jumped from the vehicle near an apartment complex and ran. The airmen continued the pursuit on foot, chasing him along the Glenn Highway , until he climbed a fence into the school.

The suspect zipped through the doors of the Clark Middle School on Bragaw Street and blew past the front desk.

"The class bell was ringing and the hallway was flooding with kids. He was walking through the kids there. He's looking back, watching me, then takes off," Harder said.

Harder caught up to him near the end of the hallway, grabbing his jacket. That's when school officials intervened, Harder said. Minutes later, police arrived.

Pat Meehan, operations manager for New Sagaya Markets, said it was the delivery truck's normal route and, to his knowledge, nothing like this has ever happened before.

"I'm just glad nobody got hurt and we got the truck back without damage," he said. "And, once I get the names of those gentlemen, I would like to personally thank them."

Anchorage School District Superintendent Carol Comeau said, "The school did exactly what they should. It did not disrupt school or anything. Our emergency crisis plan worked."

According to a database of public records, Love has previous convictions that include assault, theft and eluding police.

Tuesday night, Love was at the Anchorage Jail with his bail set at $4,000, jail officials said.

* You can read the full story online at:
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7187366p-7097488c.html