Police had a foot chase with a car thief suspect Wednesday afternoon on 16th Street and eventually caught the man.
Orange Patrol Officer Mahaffey reported she had a dispatch about a green-painted 2008 Ford Edge stolen from Pinehurst. She saw the SUV about 3 p.m. on 16th Street. She turned around, activated her emergency lights and got the vehicle to stop at a business at 2947 16th Street.
The officer reported the driver was nervous and immediately said the vehicle was not stolen. A check showed the license plate did not match the VIN and the driver then ran off east down Barkins Street. He was seen going into a backyard and jumping a fence. The man then ran in a different direction and officers caught him behind the store.
Malcolm Anthony Johnson of San Antonio was arrested for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Acadian Ambulance personnel checked him medically before he was taken to jail.
However, after the man was put in the patrol vehicle, he started banging his head against the window glass. Another OPD officer then drove the man to the Medical Center of Southeast Texas in Port Arthur to be checked before going to the Orange County Jail.
Employees at Welch Furniture, 3220 Edgar Brown Drive, helped catch a car burglar Wednesday. Officer M.T. Roush reported he went to the store about 12:10 p.m. and the employees pointed out to a man walking away from the store.
Roush said the owner of the car being burglarized admitted he had left the car unlocked when he parked it outside near a window. The owner told the officer he was in the back of the store when other employees yelled at him that someone was in his car.
The car owner told police he went outside and saw a man standing by his car and the man had the owner’s cell phone hanging out of his pants pocket.
Roush arrested 31-year-old Nicholas Paul Collins of Missouri City, Texas, for burglary of a vehicle.
Also on Wednesday, a man at the Phillips 66 Country Store, 7411 Interstate 10, reported items were stolen from the back of his parked pickup truck. Police went to the store about 7:30 p.m. The pickup owner told Officer Latiolais that someone he knew, along with another man, took the items and then drove away.
Another car burglary was reported at 7:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Express parking lot, 2655 Interstate 10.
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