Misc. cases I

[Lady Cop]

hahaha flushed out by a combine!




Illinois daily-journal
While other farmers harvested corn and soybeans Wednesday, Mark Tanner, of Tanner Farms in Kankakee, was using his combine to farm for a fugitive hiding in a Kankakee cornfield.

Police had been searching for a man, who was hiding somewhere in the cornfield. Police had stopped a car and when it pulled over, the man leaped out and ran.

As the combine ate away at his refuge among the cornstalks, Daniel Thomas, 19, of 244 S. Entrance Ave., Kankakee, made the choice to come out, hands up, directly in front of the sheriff's office at 3000 S. Justice Way.

"It was nice of him to run toward the jail. Usually, people run from the jail," said Ken McCabe, chief deputy for the Kankakee County sheriff's police.

The search for Thomas began four hours earlier, when the car he was riding in was pulled over by the sheriff's police near Taco Bell on Riverstone Parkway at 9:16 a.m.

Thomas ran across Interstate 57 and into the cornfield that is part of Tanner Farms near Interstate 57, Exit 308. More officers were called and the police stood guard in a perimeter around the field.

Officers also were positioned on the roof of the sheriff's office and nearby Love's Travel Stop & Country Store. A state police canine unit came in at about 9:45 a.m., and a local pilot volunteered to fly a plane with a police officer. When the aerial view proved ineffective, police brought in a ladder truck from the Kankakee Fire Department.

Still, Thomas stayed in the cornfield. That's when the police came up with a new strategy.

"Let's find out who the farmer is and see if he's ready to harvest his field," McCabe said.

Enter Tanner, who had actually been thinking about harvesting the field Wednesday. Police called, asked for his help, he drove his combine over and got to work. But not before being fitted with a bulletproof vest.

Assisted by two armed police, Tanner harvested for about 90 minutes before Thomas finally ran out of the field and surrendered.

"It definitely was a factor in flushing him out," McCabe said about the combine.

Now Thomas is facing a number of charges. In addition to the parole violation — details of which were not known as of press time — was also charged with resisting a peace officer, fleeing and attempting to elude police, McCabe said.

For Tanner, it was an eventful day.

"That did add a little excitement to the harvest," said Tanner, who spent the rest of the afternoon finishing the field.

Tanner's wife, Londa, said she's breathing much easier now that Thomas has been caught.

Said Londa: "To see your husband sitting in the combine with a bulletproof vest on, with a police officer with a gun on the outside, it's a little unnerving."