Fugitive runs wrong way

A man running from police after a domestic violence call picked the wrong direction to run Wednesday morning.

Travis D. Hawkins jumped out a window and ran several blocks in an effort to escape custody, but he ran straight for a group of McMinnville police officers who were doing in-service training at the Civic Center. Those officers, who were in the parking lot, had a front-row seat as Hawkins was taken down on a front lawn on Clark Boulevard.

‘He was running right toward a group of 30 policemen and about half of us were in uniform,’ said McMinnville Police Major Bryan Denton. ‘We heard on the radio there was an officer in foot pursuit and we knew it was in our area. Then all of a sudden we heard ‘Get on the ground! Get on the ground!’ and we looked over and he was getting taken down right across the street from us.’

According to police reports, officers were responding to a domestic violence call at Westside Manor Apartments on West End Avenue. The female victim told officers she was in a fight with Hawkins, who is her ex-boyfriend. She said the fight revolved around her current boyfriend.

The victim told officers she saw Hawkins slash the tires on her car, but she also maintained she did not want to press charges because she said she didn’t need additional trouble.

While officer Bryan Emery was talking to the victim, officer Rodney Whiles entered the apartment to look for Hawkins. He found an open bedroom window and no Hawkins.

Nearby workers told officer Emery a man wearing jeans and no shirt ran away in the direction of Potter Street. Emery said he ran to the lower edge of Potter Street and spotted the suspect.

‘I yelled ‘police stop’ and the subject took off running through a field toward West Elementary on Clark Boulevard,’ Emery wrote in his report. ‘I chased the subject continually yelling for him to stop.’

The chase went between houses and through several yards before it came to an end across the street from West Elementary.

‘I drew my service weapon and ordered the subject identified as Travis D. Hawkins to the ground numerous times before he complied,’ wrote Emery.

Officers watching were at the nearby parking lot to receive training on the use of tire deflation devices, also known as spikes. They are used to stop a vehicle involved in a high-speed chase.

Hawkins is charged with domestic assault, evading arrest and resisting arrest.