Arrests, pursuits made in joint street crimes task force operation

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — Three vehicle pursuits occurred within about an hour Saturday as members of the SEMO Street Crimes Task Force saturated Poplar Bluff.

Those pursuits occurred within the first two hours officers were out and resulted in three arrests. A fourth man was arrested on a Butler County warrant following a pedestrian check at Apple and Fairmount streets.

For several years now, officers from the Poplar Bluff Police Department, Cape Girardeau Police Department, Sikeston Department of Public Safety and Charleston Police De- partment have partnered to ride together as they combat drug trafficking in their respective towns.

“This is something that DPS Director Drew Juden came up with three or four years ago when he was chief at Sikeston,” explained Poplar Bluff Police Chief Danny Whiteley.

The four cities have a mutual aid agreement and work together because “we know from our intel that a lot of the same drug trafficking is done by individuals that frequent these four towns,” Whiteley said.

A lot of time, Whiteley said, the suspects also have St. Louis connections.

“With this task force, we can go to each town with multiple officers. That would be pretty well unaffordable if we called everyone in from one city,” Whiteley said.

The good thing about having officers from Cape, Sikeston and Charleston come to Poplar Bluff, “they are familiar with their folks in their area,” Whiteley said.

On a traffic stop, he said, the out-of-town officers might know the person’s associates or history, which “helps in the intelligence base.

“We go over there, we are familiar with the associates for the other three cities.”

Operations, such as the one Saturday night, occur annually in all four jurisdictions, Whiteley said.

“It’s been a very successful partnership and shows the working relation- ship that can be made with other jurisdictions trying to accomplish the same goal,” Whiteley said.

When the officers met for their 5 p.m. briefing, police Lt. Josh Stewart discussed seven individuals, who are known to be methamphetamine and heroin dealers, as well as the city’s recent “hot spots” for criminal activity. This included Bacon Park, as well as the high foot traffic areas on the east and south sides of town.

Stewart reported one suspect, Keon Allen, was wanted in connection with a recent shooting. No details were available at press time regarding the shooting.

He encouraged the officers to make “proactive stops” and conduct pedestrian checks.

After the officers paired up and were equipped with handheld radios from Sikeston’s mobile command center, they began converging on different areas of town.

According to Police Patrolman Billie Duckett, the south side of the town has the heaviest foot traffic after dark, so he and his partner began in the area north of Main Street.

Duckett initially made a traffic stop on a green SUV for no state registration. The driver had a pump shotgun in his vehicle, he said.

“I ran it to make sure it wasn’t stolen,” Duckett said.

A short time later, officers conducted a pedestrian check on Dominic Johnson at the intersection of Apple and Fairmont streets. He was arrested on a warrant for two counts of possession of a controlled substance.

Officers got into the first of their pursuits at about 6:20 p.m. It ended when a car reportedly ran up on an embankment and hit a fence near the intersection of Alice and Harper streets.

According to police Patrolman Zach Tubb, officers got behind the car at Pine and Ninth streets and then “lit it up” at Maud and 11th streets to conduct a stop for a traffic violation.

At that point, he said, the vehicle allegedly fled “straight up 11th to Harper, came across Harper” before crashing at Harper and Alice. Both the driver, later identified as Dewayne Presberry, and his passenger allegedly fled on foot toward what Tubb described as a “local dope house.”

Tubb said he and his Sikeston partner caught the passenger in the next block. The passenger subsequently was released.

Presberry allegedly fled south toward Valley, where he jumped a ditch, near the Central Baptist Church.

Stewart said Presberry did not complain of any injuries, but did not respond to questions.

As Presberry laid on the church’s front lawn, he was surrounded by officers and Butler County EMS personnel. A short time after, as officers stood Presberry up and checked his pockets for contraband, he began to have what appeared to be a seizure.

As EMS prepared to take Presberry to the hospital by ambulance, several of the officers were called away to a pursuit on Kinzer Street. Police say Kean Allen was the driver of this vehicle.

Allen made multiple turns as he ran from officers, Whiteley said.

He later abandoned his white Dodge Charger behind a Lester Street home and fled on foot, according to police Detective Corey Mitchell.

“He ran inside an apartment on Main Street,” where he was taken into custody, Mitchell said.

Allen was arrested on charges related to the pursuit, Stewart said. Police say they are investigating his connection to a shooting.

The third pursuit involved a Pontiac Grand Prix and started in the 1200 block of Tremont, Mitchell said. It ended at the intersection of 14th and Harper streets, where the suspect surrendered. Demarcus Leech was arrested on warrants, Mitchell said.

There was a passenger in Leech’s vehicle, but that person was not held, Whiteley said.

Presberry still was hospitalized at press time Saturday night, according to Stewart.