Tioga Police Chief Curtis Macomb took the chance to set the record straight about a felony arrest on March 2 in town that got people talking on social media.
The arrest, Macomb said, included officers drawing their weapons as a part of protocol.
“[Collinsville’s] Flock camera notified McKinney PD, who notified Grayson County, who notified us that an armed bank robber was coming down 377, had just crossed the bridge and was coming into our town,” he said. “And [Officer] Jared [Reams] was on 377, and … he initiated a felony traffic stop, which means your gun is drawn.”
The stop happened in the Clarks parking lot, “so a lot of people got to see.”
“To be recognized for doing my job, even though it was something, what I signed up for, made it feel good,” Reams said after the meeting.
He added that the thought in his head during the arrest was, “Don’t screw it up,” both for his safety, the suspect’s safety and the public’s safety. Reams was supported by Lt. Alan Dore, who said “we knew how dangerous it could get real quick.”
“It was as textbook as we want on those felony stops,” Dore said.
Macomb told the council “McKinney PD came out [and] took possession of the robbery suspect.”
“In the center console was the weapon that was used and the cash that was taken from the bank,” he said. “… Jared and Alan did a fine job, and nobody got hurt.” During the meeting, the council authorized the $8,000 purchase of a used 2013 Tahoe for use as a police vehicle from Bartonville, with additional information from Macomb about the need for new vehicles in the future.
The Tahoe is “not something that I think we want to keep for five or six years,” he said. “I think drive it a couple of years and then move it.”
After the council meeting, the council met as the Zoning Board of Adjustments for the first time in decades to hear an appeal from Mike Mc-Garry regarding a Special Use Permit request.
The board upheld the decision from Feb. 9 to deny the application, saying the city was not wanting to open the door to other commercial property owners attempting to appeal for the same exception.
The board also differentiated the request from that of Dena Howard’s, in which she got an SUP to operate a commercial business out of her residential property.
