THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 2, 1994 TAG: 9412020557
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
First, Aaron L. Hines foiled police in North Carolina by giving them a false name. Then he escaped as they led him to jail on a drug-dealing charge early Thursday morning.
He left two battered police cars in his wake as he fled to Virginia in a stolen truck, then abandoned it on a rural highway.
And later, as he wandered the Suffolk woodlands while a swarm of police tried to pick up his trail, Hines inched closer and closer to freedom.
Then he ran into Art Moore.
Driving to work with a friend at a nearby farm, Moore spotted Hines behind a church off Whaleyville Boulevard in southern Suffolk. Aware of the ongoing manhunt, Moore grabbed the shotgun he keeps in his truck, forced Hines to lie on the ground and held him at gunpoint until the friend flagged down police.
``I didn't really think about it until afterward, but he didn't give any trouble anyway,'' said Moore, 27, who lives on nearby Jackson Road.
``I didn't get real close in case he tried something. But I was close enough I could've shot him if I had to.''
Police had alerted residents that a fugitive was in the neighborhood, but Moore said he knew as soon as he saw Hines that he didn't belong.
For one thing, he didn't recognize him - a rarity in the rural communities of southern Suffolk.
For another thing, he was wearing handcuffs.
``I knew he was the guy,'' Moore said. ``We saw him and thought, `Well, what are we gonna do now?' I'm just a concerned citizen looking out for the neighborhood, that's all. And I had the gun in the truck.''
It took only minutes for police to close in after Moore captured Hines, but that probably would have been enough time for Hines to flee again, they said.
``We don't encourage citizens to go pointing guns at people, but he did what needed to be done to help us catch a fugitive,'' said Suffolk police spokesman Mike Simpkins.
``A lot of people might not have done it. We definitely appreciate the help he gave us.''
Members of the Roanoke-Chowan Narcotics Task Force arrested Hines, 21, of Chesapeake, early Thursday morning in a Murfreesboro hotel room. Acting on a tip, they caught him with more than 2 ounces of crack cocaine, police said. He was charged with trafficking in cocaine, having a firearm while in possession of drugs, and other related crimes.
At the time, police thought Hines was Kevin Simmons - the name he gave them. He seemed friendly and cooperative, police said. When they drove him to a Hertford County jail, they handcuffed his arms in the front, not the back.
But when police opened the door of the car outside the jail, Hines fled.
He ran to a nearby house, where a blue Ford pickup truck was idling in the driveway. He hopped in, sped off and led police on a 40-mile chase up U.S. 13 into Virginia.
Two North Carolina police cars crashed on the way. As Hines approached a sharp turn near Liberty Springs Road in Suffolk, city police closed in.
But Hines stopped when he reached the curve, and fled into the woods. Police searched for much of the morning but couldn't find him.
About 9:15 a.m., police got word that someone matching Hines' description was spotted near where the Ford truck was abandoned. When they arrived minutes later, Hines was face down on the ground with a shotgun pointed his way - and Moore was at the trigger.
Hines faces charges in Virginia for being a fugitive and in North Carolina for escape and theft of the truck. Police said he also could be charged with lying to police about his name and with forging a name on police documents, and for numerous traffic offenses. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Chesapeake's Aaron Hines fled police on Thursday.
KEYWORDS: DRUG ARREST by CNB