Truck's owner recounts wild ride in Bobcat after theft

The man stood in the checkout line at Atwoods in Andover on Tuesday night and glanced out the window.

“There goes my truck and trailer,” he thought as he saw someone drive his truck through the parking lot.

He ran out of the store and after his truck and trailer, which had a Bobcat skid steer on it. As the truck turned onto Andover Road next to Kellogg and headed north, the man jumped on the trailer.

“I have zero tolerance for that kind of stuff,” said the 20-year-old Wichita man, who didn’t want his name used out of concern for the safety of him and his family. “I knew if I wasn’t with the trailer, I may never see it again.”

He owns the truck, trailer and Bobcat, he said, so seeing the truck driven off “was a pretty big deal.”

He called 911 from the trailer, and Andover police officers caught up with the truck at Central and 159th Street East. When the officers turned on their lights and sirens, the man driving the truck floored it.

Andover Police Chief Mike Keller said speeds reached 90 mph at times during the chase that ensued. The owner of the truck and trailer said he climbed into the seat of the Bobcat and secured the lap bar over his body.

“That way, if he did wreck, I would be somewhat safe,” the man said. “I didn’t want to be trapped with the truck or trailer laying on top of me.”

Once the chase entered Sedgwick County, Wichita police officers became the primary pursuers as the suspect turned south on Webb Road, then west on 47th Street South and then north on Oliver.

Three times, Sedgwick County sheriff’s deputies set out tire-deflation devices.

The driver barely missed a set put out at Lincoln and Webb, the truck owner said. “He almost wrecked there.”

He nearly wrecked again at 47th and Webb. The third set of spike strips flattened all the tires on the passenger side of the truck and trailer at Oliver and MacArthur.

That caused the suspect to lose control of the truck and jackknife into the northwest corner of Oliver and MacArthur, the owner said. The chase lasted nearly 20 minutes.

After the truck stopped, the owner climbed out of the Bobcat and shouted down at the suspect, who had gotten out of the truck.

“I yelled at him to get on the ground,” the owner said. “He dropped down and put his hands up.”

When he first saw the owner on the trailer, the owner said, “He looked at me like he was very surprised to see me standing there.”

Officers arrived within seconds and took the suspect into custody with the help of a police dog.

Law enforcement records show that Shane Patrick Smith, 33, was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail just after 11:45 p.m. Tuesday on suspicion of numerous offenses, including probation violations, drug offenses, traffic offenses, aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon and criminal damage to property.

He is being held with bail set at $50,000.

The owner has his truck, trailer and Bobcat back.

“There was quite a bit of damage,” he said, to axles, tires and wheels.

When he called his family to tell them what happened, “they were a little shocked, a little surprised, more worried than anything.”

He has no regrets about what he did Tuesday night. He was full of praise for law enforcement.

“They did an awesome job, and I can’t thank them enough,” he said. “It could have turned out a lot worse than it did.”

This story was originally published March 15, 2017 at 6:31 PM with the headline "Truck's owner recounts wild ride in Bobcat after theft."