From Tribune staff reports
ARGO–Three men who fled from Springville police this morning were arrested in Argo after a high-speed pursuit and an extensive manhunt involving multiple law enforcement agencies.
According to Springville Police Chief Wayne Walton, at around 3:30 a.m. one of his officers spotted a suspicious vehicle parked at a strip mall in Springville.
The officer approached the vehicle and found three men, who said they were taking a break, and told them to leave the area.
The men left, turning on to U.S. Highway 11, and the officer followed them and observed that the car did not have its lights on and was swerving across traffic lanes.
When the officer turned his blue lights on, the car took off southbound on U.S. Highway 11 and was pursued into Argo.
The Argo Police department was alerted to the chase and deployed spike strips on the road, which disabled the fleeing vehicle.
The car came to a slow rolling stop in a ditch near the Liles Lane intersection.
The driver and one passenger managed to get out of the vehicle and escape into the nearby woods.
The third man, seated in the back seat, was not able to get out of the car and was apprehended by police at the scene.
A manhunt to locate the two suspects who ran from the crash was launched around 4 a.m.
Multiple agencies including the Springville, Argo, and Trussville Police Departments as well as personnel with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and the St. Clair Correctional Facility were involved in the search.
Law enforcement used dogs, in addition to drones and a JCSO helicopter, to track the two men, who stayed together during their escape.
The men were pursued down to Carrington where they then turned around and headed back up through the woods.
The dogs lost track of the men after around four hours of searching and the manhunt was suspended around 8 a.m.
Walton said there was still lots of law enforcement in the area and they anticipated that the men would soon reappear.
About an hour later, a local resident spotted the suspects near Advent Circle and called the police.
An officer arrived on the scene and soon spotted the men in the woods nearby.
The men were again pursued and ran through from Advent Circle to the woods behind Central Baptist Church where they were surrounded.
As of 11:27 a.m. the two men who escaped had been taken into custody.
“At no time were any of the citizens of Argo or Springville in any danger. We pretty much had them all contained in the woods,” Walton said.
Investigators are currently trying to determine if there were any previous warrants for their arrests and what their motivations were to flee.
One of the men will have at least five charges brought against him, one will have four charges, and one will have two charges, according to Walton who added that there will likely be more charges filed against the men.
The suspects have not yet been identified but appear to be from Birmingham.
It is not yet known if the vehicle was stolen.
Walton thanked Argo Police Chief Roy Busler, Trussville Police Chief Eric Rush, and all law enforcement involved in the manhunt.
“This is what it takes, you know, all of us working together, having the technology that we have now with drones with infrared, night vision, you know, specialized canine units, and stuff like that and it all comes together,” Walton said.
“I don’t care if you wear a State Trooper badge, or if you wear a Department of Corrections–which they were involved, done a fantastic job for us, which they always do–everybody comes together and we work together to do the job that we need to do to keep these people in St. Clair County safe and that’s what we’re gonna do.”