Nov 2023. Blues Vol 39 No. 11

WORDS BY SGT. MICHAEL BARRON, RET
My first OIS. The day we made history.
Working day shift is, well
downright boring. Reports,
reports and more reports. Accidents?
Yeah, more reports.
Mail runs, prisoner transfers,
court, you name it. Just boring
same-ole, same-ole. So, when a
chase pops up, you join right in
if you’re close, sometimes even if
you’re not.
Today would be one of those
days when you say enough is
enough and you just go. It was
about 2:45pm on a Thursday
and I had just pulled into the
Humble substation to turn in
some reports. As I walked in the
door, the stations radio was a
buzz with what would become
one of the longest chases in the
history of our department, at
least back in those days anyway.
Now this was long before unit
numbers had changed to make
any sense of who was who, and
I have no idea who was really
involved so I’m just making these
up, so please don’t take offense
(I meant to use that word by the
way) if I use your number and
you weren’t a part of this history
making event.
104 The BLUES
104 The BLUES
The chase started at Aldine
Mail Route and Aldine Westfield
at a small grocery store. A unit
passing by observed an old piece
of shit van parked outside with
a white male inside, the motor
running and expired plates. As
the deputy pulled in, the subject
he took off and as they say, the
chase was on.
Half the law enforcement
agencies on the North Side of
Houston joined in the pursuit of
this broken down, piece of crap
van. Besides the dozens of traffic
violations he was racking up
and fleeing from the police, no
one had any idea this moron was
involved in a much bigger crime.
Seems there was a reason he
was sitting in this particular
parking lot. His common-law
wife was inside robbing the
place. Thirty minutes into the
chase, the dispatcher drops a
robbery in progress call from
that very same grocery store.
The suspect, his wife, ran outside
expecting to get inside the
getaway van. Problem was the
van/getaway car was long gone.
So, she sat on the curb and waited.
Incidentally, she did get a
ride. With a sheriff’s deputy who
kindly arrested her.
As the chase criss-crossed
the north side of Houston , a
good friend of mine Detective
John Hill who was assigned to
my district, walked out of JP
court and wanted to know what
was going on. Why is everyone
standing around the radio Barron?
Listening to what could become
one of the longest chases
in the county’ s history. “Well
hell”, he said, “let’s go be a part
of history.” And just like that, we
headed south on the Eastex Freeway
to join in on the action.
By the time we reached Beltway
8, the chase had centered