Texas man arrested for attempting to kill officers
Submitted photo
Workers prepare to remove DeJuan Evans’ car from the woods after he wrecked it in September fleeing from Grambling police. Evans, from Tyler, Texas, is charged with a list of crimes including two counts of attempted first-degree murder.
A Tyler, Texas, man wanted for two counts of attempted first-degree murder involving Grambling city police officers has been arrested after eluding authorities for almost six months.
DeJuan Marquis Evans, 45, was arrested in Tyler last week after city police there detained him on a traffic stop. Evans was booked into the Lincoln Parish Detention Center on Tuesday.
Grambling police had been looking for Evans since last Sept. 26. That’s the day he and two companions were cited for shoplifting at the Dollar General on Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue in Grambling.
Evans was the driver of a red car in which the three had apparently been traveling.
Officers at the scene discovered Evans had no driver’s license, vehicle registration or insurance and were going to impound the car.
But when the tow truck arrived, Evans jumped into the vehicle and sped off while the truck was in the process of hooking up to the vehicle, Grambling Police Chief Tommy Clark, Jr. said Wednesday.
Evans grazed two GPD officers when he sped off.
“They would have died if they had gotten hit by that car,” Clark said.
Evans led police on a chase down nearby Stadium Drive that exceeded 100 mph, Clark said.
Evans continued onto Heard Road, apparently not knowing the road dead ends into another street. When he reached the dead end, he drove straight into the woods for another 364 feet before wrecking the vehicle, Clark said.
The car landed upside down.
“We though he was dead in the vehicle,” Clark said.
Authorities knew Evans was injured because of blood found at the crash scene, Clark said.
GPD officers, as well as Grambling State University Police, and Lincoln Parish sheriff ’ s deputies spent about 24 hours searching for Evans but to no avail.
Authorities presume Evans escaped through the woods, but so far, he still hasn’t told investigators how he got back to Texas, Clark said.
Evans is charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder of a police officer, aggravated flight from an officer, and three counts of resisting an officer with force or violence.
His bond was set at $990,000.
