By Gary Lloyd
TRUSSVILLE — The two Birmingham men that led police on a chase from Trussville into Clay Tuesday, prompting the soft lockdown of three schools, have been charged.
Trussville Police Department Lt. Jeff Bridges said Rodrigus Dewayne Sellers and Daniel Webster Felder Jr., both of Birmingham, have been charged with first-degree theft of property and third-degree burglary. Their bonds were set at $35,000 each.
Two burglary suspects were apprehended shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday, ending a nearly two-hour lockdown of three Clay schools.
Clay Elementary, Clay-Chalkville Middle and Clay-Chalkville High schools were in a key drill — or a soft lockdown — Tuesday around 11 a.m. as authorities searched the surrounding area for burglary suspects. A soft lockdown means classes are still ongoing, but with locked doors and no students or staff in the hallways. It’s standard operating procedure, Clay-Chalkville High School Principal Michael Lee said.
Two black males were allegedly committing a burglary at a house on Ryans Way in the Pilgrims Rest subdivision in Trussville, Bridges said. Police attempted to stop their vehicle but it struck a Trussville police Tahoe and left at a high rate of speed. Other TPD units joined the chase, and the suspect vehicle wrecked on Old Springville Road, Bridges said.
The suspects fled on foot into the woods. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office assisted with a K-9 unit.
The soft lockdown became a hard lockdown around 1 p.m., when the suspects were closer to the schools. Both were taken into custody shortly after 1 p.m.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.