Thread: FL: Illegal aliens stop for cops

Illegal aliens stop for cops
April 27, 2007
Deputies catch 2 after responding to separate call
By Andy Meinen


Vehicles are towed after being abandoned on the Thomas Drive flyover by illegal aliens Thursday.PANAMA CITY BEACH

Seven cars full of illegal aliens abandoned their vehicles on the Thomas Drive flyover Thursday evening and ran from sheriff’s deputies.

Authorities don’t know how many people ran from deputies, but two men were arrested. Both were charged with resisting arrest with violence, said Ruth Sasser, spokeswoman for the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.

The seven cars were ditched as deputies were responding to an unrelated incident on the flyover.

“We feel that the people in the cars thought we were after them,” Sasser said. “They just pulled over and ran.”

The confusion started when Mathew McRaney, of 720 Beachwood Lane, Panama City Beach, jumped out of a deputy’s car about 4:45 p.m. on the flyover and started to run. McRaney, 32, had been arrested earlier in the day on felony warrants, including aggravated battery, and was being taken to Bay County Jail.

On the way to the jail, he complained his handcuffs were cutting off his circulation, Sasser said. When a deputy stopped on the flyover to check the cuffs, McRaney fought with him and escaped. The deputy, whose name was not released, called for backup.

Several patrol cars headed for the flyover in the eastbound lanes of U.S. 98 with lights and sirens blazing. When they got to the flyover, seven cars abruptly pulled over, and everyone inside poured out and ran. Most of the people ran for the wooded area east of the Naval Support Activity – Panama City, but authorities do not believe anyone is on the base.

Others ran across the westbound lanes of U.S. 98 into a construction area.

Deputies were able to arrest two men, who were questioned at the Bay County Jail on Thursday evening, Sasser said. The men admitted, through a Spanish-speaking investigator, that they thought the police were going to pull them over on the Hathaway Bridge because they were in the country illegally.

The illegal aliens left one white van, two sedans and four pickups on the north and south shoulder of U.S. 98. A gray, polyester windbreaker, probably dropped in the rush to run, sat on the damp shoulder next to a black Dodge pickup truck, as traffic slowly shuffled east on the already congested highway.

The Sheriff’s Office’s recent push to curb the use of undocumented workers in Panama City Beach probably caused the cars’ occupants to think they were being targeted, Sasser said.

Nine illegal aliens were taken into custody April 23 at two construction sites in Panama City Beach near the Wal-Mart Supercenter, Sasser said.

The Sheriff’s Office staged another raid Thursday afternoon and found about a half-dozen workers at the Sea Haven construction site on Front Beach Road. Authorities still were trying to determine if the workers were illegal Thursday evening, Sasser said. The workers were picked up because they ran from authorities, she said.

McRaney, meanwhile, was recaptured and taken to the Bay County Jail, where he was charged with two counts of escape, two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, petty theft, possession of a controlled substance, carrying a concealed weapon and grand theft auto, authorities said.

http://www.newsherald.com/headlines/art ... php?a=1119

Several patrol cars headed for the flyover in the eastbound lanes of U.S. 98 with lights and sirens blazing. When they got to the flyover, seven cars abruptly pulled over, and everyone inside poured out and ran.

Makes you wonder, at any given time on freeways across America, how many millions of illegals are out there. Our government uses the number of 12 million, but I know in my heart it has to be closer to 30 - 50 million. This country is literally crawling with them, and they are not all from Mexico by any means.

The Sheriff’s Office’s recent push to curb the use of undocumented workers in Panama City Beach probably caused the cars’ occupants to think they were being targeted, Sasser said.

Just goes to show what a little enforcement will do.