"Don't eat me!" the thief that I had tackled screamed as the Whitefish Officer and I stood him up.
He was screaming like was in some mindless rage or was brutalizing him in some way. The hardest "hit" I had made on him, however, was putting my hands on his shoulders. Most of my tackle was actually using my wrists and forearms to fling him down while twisting the rest of my body to make sure I didn't land on him. Regardless of whether or not I had tackled Grabar or Larceny, because they had become animals that were normally smaller then people, they were still about the same size as when they were human. They might have gained a little weight, but that was in the hairless tail that was behind him. Having a five hundred fifty five pound tiger land on you wouldn't be good... especially if you weren't expecting the impact. And of course there was the importance of making sure the criminal was taken in alive.
Killing a suspect was a last resort any officer could take and usually depended on there being life or death circumstances for the officer or officers in question. Such as a suspect threatening an officer with a weapon and attempting to carry through that threat, trying to run the officer over, or endangering civilians to such a degree that trying to take the criminal in alive would be too dangerous. Grabar and Larceny, however, fit none of that criteria, and I had to make sure the one that I'd tackled wasn't hurt. That didn't stop him from screaming like an idiot.
"Don't eat me!" the thief screamed again, "Help! He's mauling me!"
"Shut up, you ain't hurt," the Whitefish officer grumbled as we lead him toward the car that Officer Barns and I had come in.
"Because of all their state line crossings, Agent Heer will have to be the one to go through the formal arrest procedures," Officer Barnes commented as the Whitefish officer and I placed him in the backseat of our car.
"I'm sure," the Whitefish officer nodded, "but we can't him running around saying that your partner is mauling him while we're trying to deal with his partner."
"I'd tend to think most of the people here have learned that Officer Wayne is a threat to no one but deer and criminals," Officer Barnes quipped, "but I do see your point."
The Whitefish officer nodded as we both turned to where the rolled over car was. Most of the other officers that had been in the chase of Grabar and Larceny from Whitefish were taking a look at the guy. The other Black Rat burglar was still seated in the chair and was buckled in, which had him upside down as a result. His main problem though was the arm that had been closest to the door and exterior of the getaway vehicle that they had been driving. The arm hung down limply, like there was little strength in it, or it hurt him too much to move it. And that meant that he had probably had an arm slam against the door or the seat, or something in the car, when vehicle rolled, breaking a bone. How serious it was, I couldn't be certain.
"How is he?" I asked as I made my across the street to see if there was anything I could do to help for the moment.
Traffic was fairly clear, and everyone assumed that any other drivers on the road would notice all of the flashing lights and would slow down or stop and wait. And so far, the road was clear with no one else on it, as far as I could see.
"His arm is good and smashed," the Whitefish officer that was closest to the crook commented, "I doubt he'll be going anywhere but the hospital."
I glanced to the thief. He seemed to be in too much pain to answer any questions on sight, but the only question I had was if we could move him. His eyes were squeezed shut from the pain he was in and he was clutching at the wounded arm with his free hand.
"Do we know if his neck and back are okay?" I asked.
"He isn't complaining of anything like that... but I don't want to take chances until EMS gets here," the Whitefish officer near the upside down thief responded, "Do you know when they should get here?"
"Our local clinic should be sending an ambulance as we speak," Officer Barnes spoke, "they should be here fairly shortly."
I could hear sirens in the distance, and I assumed that they belonged to the local ambulance. And with there being some concern that there might be some sort of spinal injury, we had to wait until the ambulance arrived. As police officers, everyone on the scene had some basic first aid training, but given the pained look on the thief's face, he required more then first aid. And since there was no scent of spilled gasoline or danger of the car's gas tank igniting, we decided to wait until someone who'd had more professional experience in medical care arrived.
And so we waited for both the ambulance to come and pick up the wounded crook and for Agent Heer to take custody of the Black Rat that I had tackled. It was the ambulance that arrived first and pulled to a stop on the side of the road next to the overturned "getaway car".
"You haven't moved him?" one of the EMTs spoke as they noticed that the thief was still in the seat he had occupied in the car.
"We were concerned that he might have some sort of spinal injury and since the gas tank isn't leaking, we didn't want to risk moving him and doing more harm then good," the Whitefish chief spoke to the EMT, "I doubt he's mortally injured... but his arm is busted up bad."
The two EMTs took a look at him and began checking the thief over.
"Do you have any pain in your neck and back?" the EMT asked him.
"Noooooooooo," the thief gave a low moan that was fairly soft which made the EMT strain to hear it.
"Besides your arm, does anything hurt?" the other EMT asked.
Again the thief gave an answer of "no" in a soft moan. With that, he then turned to me and a couple of the other officers that were close around him.
"Okay, we're gonna brace his neck just to be safe, but we do need to move him," the first EMT commented, he then turned to me specifically, "Officer Wayne, could you assist us in moving him?"
"Sure, what do you want me to do?" I replied.
"Once the brace is on, we'll go around the other side and undo the seat buckle," the EMT explained, "we want you to catch him... make sure he doesn't land hard on that busted arm. You can then place him gently on the carrying board we've laid here."
"Okay," I nodded and slowly made my way forward so that I was in a position to catch the thief when the EMTs unhooked the seatbelt.
That process was done carefully and when the seatbelt was undone, the injured thief fell into my hands. Thankfully, I had my hands close enough that it wasn't long fall. With one hand under his neck and shoulders and another on his back I moved him out of the car and the other officers and the other EMT helped lay him on the board that had been laid on the ground by the car. Once he was there they moved the wounded arm over his body. He cringed again, but he seemed to be a bit better. Once there, the EMTs began to tie down some straps to help hold him down.
"Now, to load him into the ambulance," the first EMT spoke, "we'll take him to the clinic for basic x-rays. If all he needs is to have the bones set, we can do that there. If the injury is more severe then that, we'll need to take him to Kalispell."
We nodded slowly while the other burglar was loaded into the ambulance. As that was done, Agent Heer arrived and parked near the ambulance. He was quick to approach Officer Barnes and I as we moved around the corner of the ambulance.
"Do you have them" Agent Heer asked.
"Yes, though one was hurt when the car was flipped over and needs to go to the hospital," I told him.
He turned to EMTs who were getting ready to shut the ambulance doors and inform the driver that they were ready to go.
"How bad is he?" Agent Heer asked them.
"As far as we can tell, he has a broken arm, though we do not know how badly it is broken," the second EMT answered the Federal Agent that had been running the manhunt for Grabar and Larceny.
"Where will you be going?" Agent Heer answered.
"The local clinic... though we may have to go to Kalispell if he needs more then a simple setting of the bones," the first EMT explained.
"They are suspects in Federal investigation," Agent Heer informed them, "I am Agent Heer of the FBI, I would ask that you wait before leaving, so I can make sure he doesn't flee and escape custody."
The EMTs shared glances and then sighed, "please be quick."
Agent Heer nodded and turned to Officer Barnes and I.
"Do you know which one you have in your car?" Agent Heer asked.
"Not really," I answered, "at the time we were rushing to make sure he couldn't flee while we tended to the other one... and he was screaming about me eating him."
Agent Heer sighed and nodded and we made our way back toward our patrol car. When we got there, Officer Barnes opened the door and let Agent Heer rest one hand on the top edge of the car's back door.
"Okay, we know you're either Grabar or Larceny," Agent Heer said to him in a firm voice, "the both of you have given a LOT of people a lot of grief over several states. You are under arrest for burglary charges in Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, illegal pawning of stolen goods across international lines in Canada, felony evasion of police and law enforcement agencies across state and international borders..."
"I know my rights!" he answered, his beady black eyes filled with terror, "Don't let him eat me!"
He shook his muzzle at me when he said that.
"Okay then, you know your rights," Agent Heer commented, "you will be questioned later... when we can get you and your partner together... for the moment though, I have only one question."
"Oh..."
"Which one are you, Grabar or Larceny?" Agent Heer asked.
"I am Hank Grabar," he said slowly.
And with that, Agent Heer shut the door.
"I'm going to have to trail the ambulance for now," Agent Heer said with a sigh, "can you two take him in? I don't know how long the doctors will hold Larceny and I can't run the risk of him getting away to get him to this state's local office."
"I'd have thought you'd want him tried in a Federal Court in Washington State, where it all started," Officer Barnes commented.
"That is where they'll stand trial, BUT they have to go together," Agent Heer answered, "which means we'll have to wait until Larceny is ready to be moved. Until then, I need you to hold onto this one."
"We can do that," I commented, and glancing to see that the Whitefish officers were getting ready to depart.
"You, sure?" Officer Barnes asked to me, "remember, this isn't like being in town. Walking back to the station from here would be a bit of a way..."
"We aren't THAT far out of town... in fact we're closer to the station then my Cabin is," I answered him, "and besides, someone will need to wait for the tow truck that will be pulling their car out of the ditch. I can do that while you take Grabar here in."
"Okay then," Officer Barnes said slowly and moved toward the driver's seat.
"Thank you for all your help in this case," Agent Heer answered.
He then returned to his own car and prepared to follow the ambulance which was ready to go. While they did that, I returned to the flipped car to wait for the tow truck and provide the necessary traffic control. As I did so, the Whitefish chief approached me.
"We're going to need to get back to our own jurisdiction," he told me, "I'll fax Officer Howard all the relevant details of our portion of this chase. That way all the paperwork will be in order."
I nodded, "Have a safe journey."
"It's hard to be dangerous going to Whitefish," the Whitefish chief said, "it isn't that far."
And of course he would be right when it came to distance. Whitefish was closer to Columbia Falls then Kalispell was. They then quietly departed in their vehicles and headed west. I was left alone to play traffic control until the tow truck arrived.