Betrayed by own Facebook page, chase suspect sits in Lyon County jail
By Bobbi Mlynar (Contact)
Originally published 01:19 p.m., June 20, 2008
Updated 01:19 p.m., June 20, 2008
A suspect who ran from police on foot at the end of a road chase early Thursday morning and was identified by his own posting on Facebook.com inadvertently turned himself in late Thursday morning at the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office.
The man, Clinton Tyler Prose of rural Lyon County, went to the sheriff’s office to report that his pickup truck had been stolen, Emporia Police Chief Gary Smith said.
“So, in addition to three flat tires, a confiscated firearm, and a number of other things, he is now sitting in the Lyon County Gray Bar Motel and will have time for introspection,” Smith said.
Prose turned 26 on Wednesday.
The chase began about 1 a.m., when police officer Harold Keiss heard squealing tires and racing engines around 12th Avenue and Industrial Road.
“So, he checked around and found a GMC gray pickup tearing around the area ...,” Smith said.
The driver spun the truck’s tires and exhibited reckless driving.
“(Keiss) made an attempt to pull it over and it took off on him,” Smith said.
The chase went north on Industrial to 18th Avenue and over to Prairie Street, before extending farther north and into the county. The pursuit, which lasted 20 to 30 minutes, eventually involved Emporia Police officers, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Department, the Emporia State University Police, and the Kansas Highway Patrol. The KHP called in its helicopter to help in the effort to locate the man after he left the truck and ran into a wooded area.
“Really, speeds never got much over about 60 because it’s gravel roads,” Smith said.
Officers had a license plate number to run through computer records; that led them to believe the man was heading to his house.
“They finally just put out the stop sticks and deflated his tires,” Smith said.
The suspect bailed out of his truck near Burlingame Road, about a quarter of a mile from Prose’s home.
“So they called the dogs out to track him, because by now it’s a felony,” Smith said. “There was some concern because when they checked his vehicle he had a loaded handgun in the car.”
One of the ESU officers who had seen the suspect went to the Facebook.com Web site to see if he could link the vehicle owner with the face he had seen.
“Sure enough, this guy was kind enough to put a Facebook entry on himself,” Smith said. “Essentially we now have a complaint with the county attorney’s office.”
Smith said he was pleased with the performance of the EPD and other officers.
“They comported themselves like professionals,” he said.
Comments
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
Posted by madpoet (anonymous) on June 20, 2008 at 3:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It's nice to see the good guys win one. It speaks well of local law enforcement that different departments are willing to cooperate like that. Bravo to the ESU officer who thought to look him up on-line. The suspect sounds like a real genius! I'm glad he's off the road so the rest of us are a little safer. Good job!
Posted by ddarbro (anonymous) on June 21, 2008 at 8:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Yes, bravo to the good guys. But, they spent Thousands of our tax dollars and put how much property and people in danger all to catch a guy celebrating his birthday who was guilty of a couple of traffic violations. I mean, gee, they admit having his tag number and identifying him on facebook. They knew who he was and where he lived. Why spend all that money for helicopters, dogs and 4 police departments when they could have easily just waited and gone and picked him up. Sounds like overkill to me. They admitted that they thought he was heading home, which he did and they didn't get him anyway. He turned himself in. Maybe their testosterone and the hope of getting on TV's Cops got the better of them. Yes, Horray for the Good Guys. Wisely spending our tax dollars.
Posted by jmb232 (anonymous) on June 21, 2008 at 10:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sounds like the officers did a fine job. From what they knew at the time and in light of finding a loaded firearm they were right to search further. I know of an incident where it was discovered persons had fired in to a home that was reported shortly after a traffic stop had been made. A intoxicated person driving recklessly with a firearm needs to be stopped.
It's easy to sit back and "monday morning quarterback" the officers but the bottom line is they took a felon acting dagerously off the streets. Sounds like good police work! jb
Posted by goodoleboy (anonymous) on June 21, 2008 at 11:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow just wow.... my confidence in our local law enforcement overfloweth. So even with all the extra cars, dogs, helicopter, and technology at their disposal our local law enforcement cannot even catch one drunken kid? Simply astonishing to me.... judging from what I have seen around here perhaps there should be some physical mandates placed upon our officers in order to ensure they can run down these dastardly criminals. I realize very well they would have caught this fellow eventually but the fact that he turned himself in before they could find him is an embarrassment to our department. The moment they found that loaded gun in vehicle running from police they should have taken this very seriously on principle and found the guy. But I digress; drunken guys passed out against trees are notoriously elusive. Clearly our tax dollars are being put to good use.
Posted by gayzettesux (anonymous) on June 21, 2008 at 7:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow. It's nice to know the ESU police are actually doing something. Too bad it wasn't on campus where they're supposed to be. I haven't seen an officer on campus in nearly a year. Why not do your job and stay where you're supposed to be.
Posted by wearp45 (anonymous) on June 21, 2008 at 10:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This all sounds a little fishy. They saw the guy at night while driving, and then got a positive id form facebook? Next it is not illegal to have a loaded gun in a vehicle, if this person wanted to use it he probably would have! Some people are responsible gun owners. Sounds to me like the cops (all 4 departments) messed up and are trying to cover their tracks!!! How do you not catch a guy driving "no more than 60" with 4 departments, a chopper, stop sticks, and dogs. Someone if full of crape!!! I'll give it to you the guy was probably drunk, but that just adds to the lack of compitence of the cops, and raises more suspecions about the cops actions. Hope they don't "see" me at night.
Posted by cepperly (anonymous) on June 22, 2008 at 7:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It sounds to me like some people on here are either neive or stupid... I am not for sure which. Hunting a person, like hide and seek is one thing, but hunting a person who may want to kill you is another. Law enforcement is guided by policy, has rules to follow, orders to obey, and tactics to use. Unfortunately, criminals do not. The advantage is overwhelmingly not in our favor. You can sit there and say we should have found him, we are covering something up, and we are up to no good... The fact of the matter is, he failed to yield to an emergency vehicle and that is something that we cannot take lightly nor allow. The ONLY person who put anybodies life in danger or damage to property, was the driver. If law enforcement used a blanket no chase policy, how effective would law enforcement be and how safe would you feel at night snuggled up with your family knowing we are out there and unable to effectively protect and serve YOU. Law enforcement will just be used to take reports after the fact and sit in the office and type them. NO, we, did NOT positively know who was driving, we knew who the vehicle was registered to, big difference. And, no, we did not know what crime he had committed, was being committed, or was about to be committed. So arm chair quarterback this all you want, and try and blame the police again, when actually, there were 4 departments that pooled valuable resources and worked together as a team. All in all, it was a good night, nobody got hurt, and the bad guy was caught. Don't worry, we know this is a thankless job... Sleep tight, time for work.
Posted by navywife (anonymous) on June 22, 2008 at 9:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
amen brother...big thanks to my boys in blue, i'm very proud to work with you on the other side of the radio.
Posted by wearp45 (anonymous) on June 22, 2008 at 9:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I sympathize with you that your job is thankless, but if you didn't know who was driving how did you id the guy from a website? That is what makes it sound "fishy" especially when you didn't catch him!
Posted by jibberish66 (anonymous) on June 22, 2008 at 11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Incredible how all you folks are such experts on law enforcement. Why not just run down to the police academy and show 'em how it's done? Everybody's always down on the police, until they're getting the tar beat out of them or someone breaks into their home. Who do they call? Do folks call these learned fellows at home on their computers in their jammies, criticizing the police department's policies & procedures? No, they call the men in blue. They're not perfect, but they put their lives on the line for not a lot of pay. I salute them, and I say, do what it takes to get guys like this off the streets before they do any MORE damage, to any of us.
Posted by cepperly (anonymous) on June 22, 2008 at 11:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
wearp45, do you really think that what you see printed in the Gazette is the entire case? Come on, think about it. We give them enough information that makes people like you wonder what the heck is going on... and give you a platform to criticize fine police work. You call it fishy, we call it good police work and since this is not my case I am not at liberty to give you any more details then you have read, but I will tell you that our video camera is an invaluable tool that juries love to watch... Enjoy your freedom of speech, and next time you want to criticize, exercise your 5th Amendment right to shut up... I tried to sugar coat that as best I could. Oh, one more thing, for the person that made the comment about the ESU police, without him, this case would probably not have worked out in our favor. We all have our roles in life, and he went above and beyond his role to help us out, especially when he didn't have to put himself in harms way. He deserves a pat on the back, not a punch in the gut.
Posted by wearp45 (anonymous) on June 23, 2008 at 10:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Maybe you're right, you (they) might have all acted apropriatly, but there is a reason everyone is so quick to criticize you. People have their own experiences with law enforcement (sugar coated). Some people have been "punced in the gut" before.
Posted by JessicaNelson (anonymous) on June 24, 2008 at 8 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by edorsey (anonymous) on June 25, 2008 at 1:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Make sure you have your privacy settings turned up on your facebook account before you commit a crime....
Posted by goodoleboy (anonymous) on June 26, 2008 at 6:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ugh somehow the facts get lost and they spell out clearly how very laughable this incident is.
1. Drunk guy ran from the cops
2. More cops including helicopter and dogs called in
3. Drunk guy eludes everyone
4. Sober guy ends up walking into the station finally ending the manhunt.
3 different departments FAILED to catch a kid on a gravel road late at night exhausting almost ever resource available to them. But we get force fed this good police work nonsense. Its laughable it really is, I sent this to a friend in the KC police where it sat on bulletin board and was the source of much entertainment. No one here claims to be an expert in law enforcement, just common sense. If 1 drunk kid can elude our entire police force and all it has to offer then I shudder at what an actual hardened criminal could accomplish here. There probably are some good individuals in police force but as a whole this just showcases their own incompetence and a chief that fails to realize it.
Posted by justthefacts (anonymous) on June 26, 2008 at 9:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Goodoleboy, I noticed you have posted in both locations. It is obvious you have made up your mind about this situation. There have been those here who had first hand experience in this matter. I had 30 years in law enforcement and feel that I have some experience. I assume based on your assumptions you have the same type of credentials or some connection that would indicate your knowledge. I guess if our cops had the same resources as KC they would have been able to sit back and laugh too. I'm sending a copy of this posting to the chiefs at both KCK and KCMO to get their input on how funny they think it is. Most cops have the common sense and respect to not second guess their peers based on a news article.
Post a comment
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. Our goal with this feature is to encourage thoughtful discussions about the news stories. Using the comment feature to make random attacks on people is not acceptable. Emporiagazette.com neither endorses nor guarantees the accuracy of any user contribution. Responsibility for what is posted or contributed to this site is the sole responsibility of each user. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
(Requires free registration.)