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Woman seeking ride gets picked up
Published August 2, 2006
ANGLETON — A woman accused of escaping from police custody apparently picked the wrong duo to catch a ride with: two off-duty Brazoria County Sheriff’s Department dispatchers.
Their act of generosity led Dacia Watson to the county jail.
It was just after 1 a.m. Saturday when Heather Dunn and Nikki Doherty, a six-year county dispatcher, were traveling down CR 521 between Holiday Lakes and Bailey’s Prairie on a return trip from Pearland.
Dunn, who was driving the pickup, noticed a lady in the tree line, Doherty said, recalling the early morning experience that brought them applause from Sheriff Charles Wagner and others. The two passed the woman, then U-turned to ask her if she needed help.
“Her hair was all messed up,” said Doherty, who rolled down the passenger window and asked the woman if she was OK. Her thoughts flashed on the possibility the woman might had been assaulted.
But the woman, who was wearing a red shirt among the green trees, said she only needed a ride.
Showing compassion for what appeared to be a woman needing help in the middle of the night, Dunn and Doherty assisted — although picking up strangers is not something Doherty said she normally does.
However, as the woman climbed into the bed of the pickup, the two noticed she had handcuffs on her wrists.
While riding inside the pickup, Doherty said she called the sheriff’s department and asked whether any police agency was missing someone. As her cell phone lit the pickup’s cab, Doherty said she wondered whether the woman they picked up knew what was happening.
After communicating with the county, the Department of Public Safety pulled behind the pickup and took the woman into custody.
“Apparently, I’m going to be teaching a class now,” Doherty said with a smile.
Watson, 20, of Holiday Lakes remained in the Brazoria County jail Tuesday on charges of escape while arrested, possession of a controlled substance and driving while intoxicated. Her bonds totaled $13,500.
She was picked up about a half-mile away from where she reportedly escaped from DPS custody.
“I appreciate their help,” Trooper Steven Stanfield said. “It was just a bird of a different feather that night.”
At about 11:15 p.m. Friday, Stanfield stopped Watson for reportedly driving on the wrong side of the roadway, not passing, he said.
After administering a field sobriety test, Stanfield said Watson was arrested on a charge driving while intoxicated. Following departmental procedures, Stanfield said the woman was handcuffed behind her back, put in the front seat of the patrol car and seatbelted in.
While the trooper was talking to the vehicle’s passenger and searching the vehicle, the woman ran into a heavily wooded area, Stanfield said, after noting 10 tablets of Soma were found in the woman’s purse.
Troopers searched for the woman for about 15 to 20 minutes but couldn’t find her until the two off-duty dispatchers called in about the handcuffed woman they found.
“When they got her moving they knew she wasn’t going to jump out of a moving vehicle,” Stanfield said. “They helped out.”
It’s not often for an officer to lose a suspect, Wagner said, but he called what the dispatchers did “great.”
However, when asked what will the two get for their efforts, Wagner smiled, turned to Doherty and said, “She gets an attaboy. Every little bit helps.”
To that, Doherty smiled and requested the good deed be noted in her personnel file, but it already has earned the two brownie points with their co-workers.
“They’re not licensed peace officers. They’re civilian members of the department,” Wagner said. “But they have the experience and knowledge of what goes on to help.”
Patrol Capt. Richard Foreman jokingly asked whether the duo caught only one prisoner.
“They’re not afraid of anything,” he said.
But Wagner doesn’t suggest people pick up strangers off the streets.
“It’s too dangerous,” he said. But, “they handled it very well.”
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