By Tyler Pruett, Managing Editor

tyler@southerntorch.com

RAINSVILLE, Ala. — At last Monday night’s regular meeting of the Rainsville City Council, Councilman Marshall Stiefel praised police chief Johnny Stewart for his quick thinking in a high speed chase last week.

“I want to say this, I think Johnny and these guys did a good job the other day. We had a chase that came through the town. There was about fifteen (police) cars involved,” Stiefel said.

Councilman Stiefel praised the Rainsville Police and chief for their quick thinking, not in pursuing the suspect, but exercising restraint in not adding more police cars to the fray, and endangering public safety.

Last week, a woman was confronted for shoplifting at WalMart in Fort Payne. Instead of surrendering to officers after being caught, she chose instead to flee the scene.

The suspect, 39-year-old Wendy Lean Wilbanks, of Fort Payne, caused at least one wreck during the chase, sliding into the back of a car on Airport Road.

Officers were finally able to stop her north of County Road 194 on Highway 75, between Sylvania and Henagar. After exiting the vehicle, she continued the chase on foot.

The suspect was arrested and charged with third-degree robbery, attempting to elude a police officer, reckless endangerment and other traffic violations. According to Fort Payne Police Chief Randy Bynum, the robbery charge came from her pushing an attendant as she fled the store.

Many view a pursuit over shoplifting unnecessary and a danger to public safety, while many others believe that not pursuing suspects would cause criminals to flee more often, believing they won’t be pursued. I caught up with Rainsville Police Chief Johnny Stewart and Fort Payne Chief Randy Bynum this week to find out what the common procedures are.

“Our priority with that was intersections and keeping drivers not involved in the chase safe, it’s hard to pursue that person and not interfere or endanger the other motor traffic on the road.” Chief Johnny Stewart said of the incident.

When Fort Payne Police Chief Randy Bynum was asked what necessitated the chase, he explained, “Every city has different standard operating procedures (SOPs). It depends on the situation. It depends on the traffic, the weather, and depending on the severity of the crime that initiated the pursuit.”

“She actually assaulted the attendant at Walmart when they asked her to come back inside, that’s strong-armed robbery. So it was more than shoplifting,” said Bynum.

“Her behavior also indicated that she was a danger to the public, so we initiated the pursuit. She took off like she committed murder,” Bynum said.

Chief Stewart also agreed that it is situation dependent. It’s also up to the ones who began the chase to continue or call it off.

“It’s the call of the agency that initiated the pursuit to call it off (In this case, the Fort Payne Police Department),” Stewart said.

The chase also started not far from Rainsville, meaning the time to respond was limited to the time it took the speeding cars to get up the mountain.

“Nobody ever got to the point where they can deploy the spikes, because she was approaching so fast,” Chief Bynum said.

“It’s not like people see in the movies,” said Chief Stewart. “We only have a very small window to deploy the spike strip. It can’t be deployed long before the car being pursued arrives, as the whole road would have to be closed or normal traffic would drive over it.”

“We only have a short amount of time to secure the intersection and ensure public safety,” explained Stewart.

Stewart also said that Rainsville officers stopped pursuit at the city limits to protect other motorists on the highway.

While it is up to the department who initiated the chase to continue or call off, Chief Bynum was on Sylvania gap road at the time, and had good command and control of the situation.

“I just thought Johnny was wise in his response to that. Sometimes discretion is the better part part of valor,” Councilman Stiefel said of Chief Stewart after the meeting.