Armed robbery suspect caught
Published 2:14 pm Monday, May 3, 2004
By By LYDIA GRIMES Feature Reporter
Sergeants Gene Powell and Henry Samuel were dispatched to Diamond Gasoline #1709 on Douglas Avenue in answer to a call that came into the department at 10:51 p.m. Thursday, April 29. The police arrived at 10:53 in response to the call.
They were told that a white male had come in and asked for change. When the cashier opened the cash register, he reached in and snatched an undetermined amount of money and left.
He was last seen driving a 1995 Camaro, dark in color. The man was spotted headed north on Hwy. 31 by Officer Thomas Agerton and the chase was on.
Police were led on a high speed chase through the city of Brewton and down Waters Road where they lost the vehicle. It was later found abandoned behind Mickey's Paint and Body Shop in East Brewton.
The driver borrowed a friend's vehicle and sometime early Friday morning he went into a service station at the junction of Hwy. 41 and I-65 and robbed the clerk at knife point. He left with an undetermined amount of money.
He was spotted at 6:15 a.m. Friday morning driving a sports utility vehicle Montero, dark blue in color. The police began the chase again and were led out Martin Luther King Drive all the way back to Hwy. 31 North beside the old North Brewton School.
He turned south on Hwy. 31 and then right on Old Castleberry Road and made his way to Hwy. 41 where he turned north. He turned onto Pitts Lane, a dirt road, where he was apprehended by Officer Jeremy Douglas with the assistance of Officers Agerton and Powell.
The man, James A. Evans, 30, of 316 North Pine Street, Brewton was charged with robbery in Brewton and placed in the Escambia County Jail.
Because the second robbery took place in Conecuh County, there will probably be armed robbery charges made against him in that county.
He did not display a weapon in the robbery that took place in Brewton.
In another matter, the police received a call Wednesday, April 28 at 10:30 p.m. reporting a female lying in the parking lot of Go-Co 117 at the corner of Persimmon Street and 31 South. Upon responding they found Kimberly A. Burgh, 34, of 735 Brandenburg Street, East Brewton.
Investigating Officer Eric Suarez determined from the victim that she and her ex-husband, David L. Burgh, 36, of 10370 Hwy. 41 had gotten into an altercation.
He apparently hit her with his truck and dragged her approximately 10 feet.
She was transported to D.W. McMillan Memorial Hospital where she is being treated for a broken pelvic bone and several less serious injuries.
A warrant was issued for Burch and he was charged with domestic violence, first degree and transported to the Escambia County Sheriff's Department.