A Cheraw man wanted on federal drug charges eluded officers on the ground for a short while Friday morning in the downtown residential area between Huger and Third streets. That was before they called in the aviation department, said Chesterfield County Sheriff Sam Parker.
He was running, “having bailed out of a window,” Parker said.
The suspect, Antonio Josh Baylor, 24, was part of a “drug warrant round up,” the sheriff said. When officers arrived at his residence on Huger Street he took off on foot. And according to Cheraw Police Chief Jay Brooks, he was “in his skivvies.”
Sheriff Parker said he was actually the one who “spotted” Baylor on the ground. “He had jumped a privacy fence and was lying down in a grassy area that was actually an old abandoned dog pen.
“We were very fortunate to spot him,” Parker said. There was no telescope or fancy thermal equipment to use. Parker said a FLIR instrument, which detects heat and is common equipment on state police helicopters, costs about $300,000.
“We usually fly with the doors open and hang out so we can see,” Parker said. “We average about 85 percent on finding fugitives or missing persons with the use of the helicopter.”
Parker estimated the fuel cost for Friday’s find to be “anywhere from $60 to $100 … all paid for out of the Narcotic Drug Fund.” He was quick to say the helicopter is “not funded by tax money, not part of the line item budget for the sheriff’s department.”
According to Sheriff Parker, when Baylor was apprehended the first thing he said was, “If you hadn’t had that helicopter you’d have never found me.”
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