AREA NEWS IN BRIEF

Driver leads police on brief chase

A driver’s initial stop was the beginning of a brief chase Monday night, Decatur police said.

Lt. Frank DeButy said police received a call shortly before 11 p.m. about an “old beat-up white car” circling the block near Shell Food Mart on Sixth Avenue Northeast.

An officer pulled the car over on Wilson Street just east of Sixth Avenue.

DeButy said the tag on the white Mercedes should have been on a green Saturn.

“Just as the officer was getting out of his patrol car, the Mercedes nailed it,” DeButy said. “He turned left onto Eighth Avenue. When it dead-ended into Market Street, he turned right. He blew through the intersection of Market and Somerville.”

The driver finally pulled over in the 1200 block of Market Street, DeButy said.

The driver, 47-year-old Ricky Ransom, told police he was on federal probation for firearm’s violations, DeButy said.

Police issued Ransom citations for attempting to flee and elude, reckless driving, switched tag and no insurance, DeButy said.

Seth Burkett

Decatur pharmacy raided by thieves

Burglars made off with thousands of pain pills after breaking into the Medicine Shop Pharmacy, Decatur police said Tuesday.

Officers responding to an alarm at the 2004 Danville Road pharmacy at about 10:30 p.m. Sunday found the front door glass smashed, said Lt. Frank DeButy, a police spokesman.

The thieves took about nine bottles containing hydrocodone products and a bottle of Xanax, DeButy said.

Seth Burkett

Police defuse ‘cop suicide’ threat

Decatur police didn’t know what would happen when they surrounded a house in the 200 block of Beard Street Southwest on Monday.

Inside the home, a 27-year-old man was holed up with a 9-mm pistol, said Lt. Frank DeButy, a police spokesman.

DeButy said the man’s aunt had called police at about 11 a.m. and said her nephew was threatening to commit “suicide by cop.”

Two officers went to the front door and knocked for a long time before anyone answered, DeButy said.

“(The man) came to the door and had a gun in his pants,” DeButy said. “The officers retrieved the weapon, and talked with him. He told them he had been having woman problems.”

Police took the man to a hospital for evaluation.

Seth Burkett

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