One Saturday night around 23:00, Dep. Allen W. called in, “a catch-up to scenario”. A pre-10-80 (chase) so to speak. Not yet a 10-80, but a catch-up. You could easily hear his four-barrel kicking in as he talked. No lights or sirens yet. “Radio, I am trying to catch up to a white flatbed six-wheel truck just stolen out of Gipson’s and headed south on 92 towards I-20. Gipson’s was a cowboy bar in Douglasville. In the 1970s, 80s, and 90s Gipson’s was, “The Country Bar”, for the majority white Douglas County. I “believe” that during that time era, the population of Douglas County, Georgia was around 82% white. For example, Newt Gingrich and Bob Barr were our elected Douglas County, Georgia U.S. Congressmen. Other than Leather’s Truck Stop on Hwy. 78 in Winston, that was it. We had no other bars in the county to mention. Allen was working an extra job at Gipson’s that night.

Allen was hired straight to the patrol division as a deputy sheriff from the street. He started his employment on patrol the same day that I started patrol from my jailer position. We were new to the game and on the same day shift. My first partner. I love that man to this day.

Before Allen joined the S.O., he was working on the construction project of Interstate 20. In the early 70s, I-20 stopped at the Hwy. 5 Douglasville exit. There was a high Georgia red clay bank standing under the Hwy. 5 bridge. Dirt bikes would hill-climb on the red bank under the bridge on the weekends.

I happened to be at Ideal Construction on State Highway 92 running radar at the time. I first heard Allen’s “catch up to” call. I was in the Traffic Enforcement Unit at that time and I wanted a cheap arrest. Allen had the extra job going, so he would turn a violator over and go back to the extra job. I barreled headlong toward Allen’s soon-to-be traffic stop. As I neared I-20 and saw Allen’s blue lights, he suddenly called a 10-80. He radioed his pursuit onto I-20 eastbound. “156 radio, 10-80 with a white flatbed construction truck eastbound on 20 with tag number ******”. Here we go, I fell in behind 156 with blue lights and sirens. Gipson’s and Ideal were about the same distance from I-20. I did not know Allen was working an extra job at Gibson’s that night.

The chase continued, one of Earl’s standard operating procedures was that zone units were to make a beeline towards I-20 and other eastbound avenues of escapes on lookouts. It always worked like a charm. Crooks seldom got away. Thus, Earl D. Lee and D.C.S.O. earned the reputation “don’t go to Douglas County, or you’ll be caught.”

As the truck turned onto the two-lane Interstate 20 eastbound, I was on Allen’s tail. I was the second car in the chase. It was now my job to call all radio traffic for the chase. Direction, number of occupants, bumper stickers even. Now, Allen was the chase car. All he had to do was concentrate on driving. There was no traffic to speak of. Allen attempted to make his move of going around and head off the empty brick hauler. As Allen attempted to go around, the driver swerved violently towards him. Tried to run Allen into the grassy median to wreck him. Allen fell back to chase the car again and maintained the fleeing vehicle’s speed.

Hey, why don’t I give it a shot? I dropped back a little to pick up speed before my attempt. I built up enough speed to quickly pass with ease. He must have seen me coming. I tried to pass the flatbed in the fast lane. The truck was going about seventy and for all it’s worth. The truck driver suddenly made a quick sideswiping lunge towards me with the truck. Just like Allen, I figured he would and backed off when my attempt went for shit. I felt that the driver would just as soon kill me in his attempt to escape. Dale arrived with blues and siren. I fell back to the second position again. Dale fell back to try it.

There was a Douglasville Police Officer at the time named “Dale.” Dale’s accent was right out of the hills. Very Appalachian-like. He had the deepest southern drawl that I have ever heard. The previous week or two before Allen’s chase, Douglasville P.D.’s “Country” called me on car-to-car. “Eddie, come see my new patrol car.” It was my turn to gush with envy. Country had been showing off Douglasville’s newest patrol unit in the fleet. He told everyone in listening distance of his newly assigned patrol car. He may have even stopped cars on the interstate just to show off his car, I do not know. Yes, Dale, it is a brand-new car, Dale. He was like a child on Christmas.

All of a sudden, Dale blasted past me and Allen like we were sitting still. At the time I thought that Dale would be successful when I saw the speed that he had attained from his new cruiser. Allen and I still warned him on car-to-car. We had already tried that scenario without success. I dropped back to see what his attempt would produce. Get out of the coming accident debris. Country took off and began speeding past the truck with ease, until…!

As Allen and I backed off, Dale decided to follow his own path. He attempted to pass without the backing off part. The newest pride of the D.V.P.D. fleet was sideswiped by the stolen truck. Said stolen truck had a flatbed and its bed was high enough to cause damage above the fender wells. Now let me describe that flatbed truck. It had two wheels on the front and four wheels on the rear, with a flatbed about chest high. Like a truck you would see hauling bricks.

Shattered glass and Dale’s passenger side mirror flew past. Least of all to say, Country fell out of the pack. Other units joined in at Lee Road as we sped past. Cobb County units were now on car-to-car with us, setting up their intercept at the county line. The next exit was Thornton Road, where deputies were staging a roadblock just in case. We chased the truck all the way to Thornton Road, where the driver unexpectedly exited from 20 onto the Thornton Road exit ramp. The driver swerved through the light and took a left northbound and into the teeth of the Zone 2 patrol deputies’ roadblock. With the road blocked and blue lights to his front, the driver swerved left back onto I-20 but now westbound. The 70 MPH chase gave time for the Zone 2 deputies to get set up with their roadblock. Thornton Road was the last exit before Cobb County and Atlanta. Thornton Road was already becoming a major patrol area for us. The Fulton Industrial crime was moving west towards Thornton Road and Douglas County. Calls for help were escalating in that area.

The roadblock had the I-20 west ramp as the only “escape route” for the stolen truck. (See The Van story) Zone 2 deputies sped in front of the truck and onto I-20 westbound ahead of the truck. At the bottom of the ramp, The roadblock deputies slammed on the brakes and blocked the ramp and the truck’s escape. By this time, we had no less than 4 or 5 deputies and police units at the stop. Allen and I quickly jumped from our cars and pulled the driver out and face down to the pavement. Allen was kneeling at his right shoulder blade and I at the other shoulder blade. We both tried to get his arms behind him for cuffing. It was a struggle. The driver was resisting the handcuffing with all his DRUNK strength. Allen and I were struggling to get his hands behind his back. Other units had the driver by his legs.

The squirming made the handcuffing difficult. It was at that time I saw the driver’s head recoil violently. I saw Dale standing above Allen and me. He was yelling about his new car being wrecked. Dale was rearing back for another chance to kick the driver in the head. I did as I was trained and put my knee over the driver’s head. The gap between my knee on the ground and my toes on the ground makes the human ankle just the right size to fit over a human neck. It was much like the Floyd case, but without touching the head. It was taught as a control procedure. Try it in your home. Just make sure your ankles are on the biting side of the head. They’ll bite nothing but boot. Knee and toes only touching the ground over the neck. George Floyd was intentionally murdered with misuse of that hold. No space was given for breathing for Mr. Floyd.

I blocked Dale from any more kicks. As we finally handcuffed the driver, I noticed Country stammering on about his new patrol car. After we got the driver hog-tied, Allen took the arrested car thief to booking and I resumed Task Force patrol.

My next shift started Thursday evening. I was called to the Detectives Division to meet with a G.B.I. agent upon entering for work. What could this be about? I did not know this G.B.I. agent. He started by reading me my rights. It was sobering. The agent started inquiring about the arrest of a drunk driver a few days prior. He stated that testimony gathered alleged that Allen W. was kicking the driver in the head when he was on the ground under arrest. I immediately cleared up that accusation by reporting the above story.

Within another week or so, Country had been fired from the Douglasville Police Department. What happened after that, I do not know.