Stolen engine dragged down highway

By Rupert Howell
Burglary and grand larceny charges have been filed against someone who is accused of stealing an engine from a business on Highway 6 West and dragging it down the highway until being stopped by Batesville Police Sergeant Scott Cagle according to weekend incident reports released by Batesville Police Department.
(Names and exact locations have been redacted from the reports and the Panola County Jail log yet shows any arrests this weekend by BPD for burglary and grand larceny.)
“I observed a white Chevy SUV. . . dragging something down the roadway on Hwy. 6 West,” Sergeant Cagle’s report first stated, while noting, “There was sparking coming from the object and I was unable to make out what the object was.”
That object, according to the report, was a V8 small block Chevy 409 Custom built motor valued at $7,000.
Cagle made the traffic stop according to the report that stated further, “I observed that the object being dragged was a vehicle motor and it was hooked to the vehicle with a chain. The motor was upright  and appeared to be on a metal stand.”
The driver of the vehicle pulling the motor told Cagle that the motor was his and he was taking it to an old welding shop on Hwy. 6 so that someone could work on it for him.
Cagle’s report continued, “I advised him to get it off the roadway and not to drag items down the roadway in the future.”
Cagle later checked nearby Highway 6 businesses and found drag marks in the parking lot leading to a roll up door that was unlocked. By then the motor had apparently been discarded in tall grass at rear of the property and was no longer on the roadside.
Late that evening, the owner of the motor appeared at the police station and noted the suspect was a former employee who knew how to get into the building. He then signed papers charging burglary and grand larceny.
Other weekend incident reports included a Saturday complaint that two individuals were on Patton Lane around 3:45 a.m. when the Crown Victoria in which they were driving was maliciously vandalized with the front windshield busted, passenger mirror damaged, drivers and passenger side back windows busted as well as taillights and headlights broken before they could get back into the vehicle and drive away.
An obscene word was also carved into the  passenger side of the car, according to Patrolman Justin Johnson’s report.
Sergeant Cagle’s report of burglary Sunday indicated a 1998 Freightliner had been burglarized while sitting in a parking lot on Highway 6 west between Friday night and Sunday.
Reported taken were a navigation system, CB radio, audio amplifier and speakers totaling $2,147 in value.
The victim had no serial numbers of the items and no further action was taken according to the report.