2004 high-speed chase now drawing national TV attention

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN LAURA CAMPBELL
Every once in a while, the cat does catch the mouse.

But unless it’s Tom going after Jerry-and now, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office nabbing its own three thieving “mice”-the chase rarely makes it on television.

More than two years after a high-speed car chase out of Tampa that resulted in the arrest and booking of three men who had been stealing anhydrous ammonia in the county, Court TV has made plans to air a segment on its “Most Shocking” series featuring dash-cam video footage from the early-morning incident and testimonials from deputies involved in the chase.

And Sheriff Lee Becker couldn’t be more pleased that his team is finally getting the recognition it deserves for a pursuit and capture that was practically perfect in every way.

“It’s actually the culmination of several years’ worth of effort on the part of my guys and the sheriff’s office,” said Becker, whose office had been installing dash-cam videos in its patrol cars at a rate of about one per year since 2002.

“We were finally to the point that the perpetrators are actually on video from the time they started stealing anhydrous to the time they were shoved off into the ditch.”

The videoed incident began in the early hours of Oct. 23, 2004, when a surveillance team of three deputies observed Justin Fuqua, then 32, of Council Grove, Christopher Lesslie, 24, of Emporia and Joshua Lillich, 18, of Manhattan, removing anhydrous ammonia, the chemical used as the main ingredient for methamphetamine, from Agri Producers Inc. in Tampa.

The night was the climax of a long investigation that was scheduled to end that night, Becker said.

“They worked months on this case trying to catch these guys-the timing was just off,” he said. “So we were going to pull up stakes and leave, because we couldn’t get them.”

The deputies-Jeff Soyez, Josh Whitwell and Larry Starkey-called for officers to respond to the scene to help them stop the suspects.

Soon after, Becker, Undersheriff Randal Brazil, other deputies from the sheriff’s office and officers from Hillsboro and Marion police departments arrived to join the chase.

The three men fled in a small four-door passenger vehicle, hitting a tree while going through a yard in Tampa and leaving themselves in a vehicle running on three tires and a rim.

Officers chased the suspects’ vehicle south out of Tampa on Limestone. It was during this stretch of the chase involving speeds in excess of 80 mph that the suspects’ vehicle struck two cows.

According to Brazil, the cattle didn’t appear to be seriously injured by the impact.

It was also at this point in the chase that Fuqua, seated in the back seat of the suspects’ vehicle, released the anhydrous ammonia out of his window.

On the road directly behind them were Soyez, Brazil and Whitwell, who inhaled the fumes.

“The guys couldn’t talk for two or three days afterward because of the effects of the anhydrous,” Becker said.

At the intersection of 290th and Limestone, Soyez approached the vehicle from behind and used legal intervention to push the car off the road.

With guns drawn, officers approached the stopped vehicle and made the arrest. The three were taken into custody and booked at the Marion County Jail. Soyez, Brazil and Whitwell were treated on the scene by emergency medical technicians who flushed their eyes out and gave them oxygen.

None of the eight patrol cars were damaged during the chase.

Now, just as Becker received word that Fuqua has been sentenced to two years in prison on one count of aggravated assault-the other two men only served minimal time in the county jail-he’s also gotten word of Court TV’s plan to give the bust some national attention.

“They contacted me six months to a year ago about this,” Becker said of Court TV’s initial pursuit of the story.

“But the timing is pretty unique where the guy just got sentenced.”

And although possibly the most glamorous-according to its Web site at www.courttv.com, Court TV’s “Most Shocking” show features “the most unbelievable action-packed video of criminal behavior” and “spans the globe to bring you pulse-pounding pursuits, gut-wrenching dramas and high-stakes life-and-death standoffs”-the segment won’t be the first attention Becker and his team have gotten for that morning’s work.

Wichita’s KAKE Channel 10 aired some of the footage shortly after the incident, leading to coverage by other stations across the nation.

“People that knew me saw me on the news,” Becker said. “I’ve gotten calls from California to Florida about the car chase, so it’s already gone across the country once.”

Becker said he also heard recently that Spike TV has begun airing a short clip of the footage.

He’s pleased that people are recognizing what they accomplished that night.

“Everything went right on this,” he said. “Usually there’s some big faux pas-but this case, I’m proud to take it forward because everything was done right.”

Court TV sent a Wichita-based production crew out last Tuesday to film interviews with the three “star” deputies, Becker said.

Court TV has not yet stated when it will air the segment.

Other than the interviews and dash-cam footage, Becker said he isn’t quite sure what the segment will include, but he’s guessing it will feature some humor as well as drama.

“What’s funny about it is where they hit the cows,” he said. “I’m sure if you were the cow, you wouldn’t like it, but it was funny for us.”

Besides providing a chuckle or two, the dash-cam videos have offered helpful evidence in even more routine tasks such as stopping speeders.

“They’ve been invaluable,” Becker said. “They make citizens better citizens and officers better officers.”

As for the Court TV segment, Becker is just glad to share the thrill of the chase with other interested viewers.

“We’re not Tom and Jerry, but certainly we’re the cat chasing the mouse,” he said.

“And we enjoy it getting caught every now and then.”

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