‘If he goes down, I go down’: Wichita police arrest two burglary suspects on ‘COPS’

A burglary suspect who Wichita police said probably could have escaped capture returned to the scene to support his suspected partner in crime as he was arrested on television.

Both men were arrested in connection to the burglary at a metal scrapyard. The case was featured on “COPS” earlier this month.

A clip of the arrest, titled “Southside Scavenger Hunt,” was shared to the TV show’s Facebook page and website. It comes from season 32 episode 25, “Points for Neatness,” which aired March 9 on the Paramount Network.

“You probably could have gotten away,” a Wichita Police Department officer says to the second suspect at the opening of the clip.

“If he goes down, I go down,” the suspect said from the back of a patrol car. “If I do the same stupid (expletive) that he does ...”

“You’re going down with him?” the officer asks.

“Yeah. It’s only right,” the suspect answered.

The case started as a nighttime burglary in progress call at a metal salvage yard. It features Officer Jacob LaMunyon, the grandson of former Wichita Police Chief Richard LaMunyon.

Officers caught up to one of the suspects a few blocks away as he fled on a bicycle. As he was detained, a second suspect rode up on his bike instead of leaving the scene of the crime.

The second man told officers that he and his friend both broke into the recycling center and stole walkie talkies. He had tossed the backpack with the stolen property and gloves and a mask over a fence.

The property manager provided officers with good-quality screenshots from security video that officers said showed the two men breaking in through a window at the office building. They then stole a charging bank and six radios.

Both men were arrested.

One of the suspects said the name of the metal recycling business during the episode, and Sedgwick County Jail booking reports and WPD media reports from the company’s address identify the burglary suspects as Tyler Nathaniel Turley and Jared Micah Christmore.

Turley, 18, was arrested on suspicion of burglary, theft, criminal trespass and minor in possession for having alcohol in his backpack. Christmore, 19, was arrested on suspicion of burglary and theft. The case was reported at around 11:19 p.m. July 27 at a metal recycling center just south of Kellogg between Broadway and Washington.

Sedgwick County District Court records show Turley and Christmore were both charged with burglary, theft and criminal damage to property. They both pleaded guilty to one felony count of burglary and were ordered to pay more than $1,600 in restitution, as well as court costs. They were also sentenced to two years of probation and ordered not to contact each other during probation.

This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 10:43 PM.