Dateline: June 16, 2005

Suspect leads deputy on chase through city

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

A man described by witnesses as “a lunatic” led Donley County’s Chief Deputy on a wild car chase last Friday before he was subdued, escaped, and was subdued again.

Sergio Adrian Silva, age 19, was in Donley County Jail at press time facing charges of Aggravated Assault on a Peace Officer, Aggravated Assault, Evading Arrest in a Motor Vehicle, Kidnapping, and Escape.

Danny Hill works at West Texas Gas and witnessed part of the chase and its conclusion.

“He was just a lunatic,” Hill said. “He didn’t care if he hurt anybody.”

Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn said Silva took his girlfriend, 23-year-old Celestina Arrevla, against her will from Pampa and headed for Houston. In Clarendon, Arrevla convinced Silva that she needed to use the restroom, and he let her out at West Texas Gas at US 287 and Orpe St., where she told employees there to call the police.

Blackburn said Silva apparently figured out what was going on, and he fled the scene in his Dodge Durango, jumping a curb and blowing out his left rear tire in the process. He drove back downtown and pulled into the alley behind the Clarendon Fire Department to change his flat.

Watchful citizens alerted law enforcement to Silva’s location, and Chief Deputy Randy Bond pulled into the alley from US 287 where he saw Silva attempting to jack up his vehicle. Bond said Silva jumped into the Durango, sped backward down the alley to First Street, and then took off east, running a stop sign before heading back south on Kearney Street. He ran the red light at US 287, barely missed a vehicle, and headed back east toward West Texas Gas, where Arrevla still was.

Bond said the suspect sped through the West Texas Gas parking lot, crossed Orpe Street, went through the parking lot of Cornell’s Country Store, and back out on the highway. Bond then tried to stop on-coming traffic at this point to keep him from returning downtown.

Silva, meanwhile, reportedly turned around in the parking lot at the Clarendon Veterinary Hospital, almost hit a Trailways bus, got back on 287, and headed west. He hit the pickup of Bobby Tolbert in front of White’s Feed & Seed, losing his front left wheel and hub in the process.

As Silva passed by Cornell’s again, he was rammed by Deputy Bond’s patrol truck.

“His vehicle just started fish-tailing at this point,” Bond said, “but I wasn’t letting him back downtown.”

Silva’s vehicle finally spun almost 180 degrees and came to rest near the curb in front of West Texas Gas. He continued to gun the vehicle, trying to get it to move, and Bond pinned his patrol truck against the Durango.

“He then tried to get out his passenger side door,” Bond said. “It was jammed, so he climbed out his back window, which had been busted out.”

Silva then reportedly ran north across the parking lot. Bond told him to stop twice and then fired a warning shot into the air. The suspect lay down, and Bond cuffed him and led him back to the patrol truck.

As other law enforcement personnel began to arrive, the cuffed Silva took off on foot again, and Sheriff Blackburn, Deputy Mike Spier, corrections officer Joe Hall, and Game Warden Adrian Smith of Dennison, who was just passing through town, brought the man down.

Silva was booked into the Donley County Jail, where he has “pulled several incidents,” Blackburn said. Bond was initially set at $80,000, but that figure was expected to rise as additional charges are filed.

“He [Silva] could have killed a lot of people,” the sheriff said. “He showed no regard for other people and still doesn’t at this time.

“I think Chief Deputy Bond did an exceptional job. It could have been a lot worse.”