By Steve Plunkett
A man hiding from police behind Town Hall hailed a ride-share company and fled Gulf Stream, only to be caught after a foot chase near the Boynton Beach water tower.
Ja’Quez McMillian, 23, drove into town June 11 around 3:45 a.m. in a 2017 Chevrolet with a temporary tag, and Officer Josh Basante immediately spotted the vehicle and “recognized it didn’t belong here,” Police Chief Richard Jones said.
McMillian, who was accompanied by Serrina Albert, 19, drove off but was later spotted by license plate readers entering the Core district of town, Jones said. He had backed the Chevy into a driveway on Old School Road. As soon as Officer Tiara Hawkins approached, McMillian, who had recently been released from state prison, took off on foot. Albert was apprehended there, but McMillian “ended up hunkering down in some vegetation” behind Town Hall and a home on North County Road, Jones said.
“We don’t know what his intentions were, but they weren’t positive,” the chief said.
The sheriff’s helicopter was called in and officers on the ground scoured the area but could not find the 6-foot-5, 185-pound suspect.
“But an hour or so later, one of our Town Hall employees was paying attention to the cameras and noticed the individual enter a vehicle and flee the area in that vehicle — or attempt to,” Jones said as part of his report to town commissioners the next day.
McMillian had ordered the escape vehicle, a black SUV, from the Lyft ride-share service with his cellphone, the chief said.
“By the time we were able to catch up to the vehicle, we were in the city of Boynton Beach,” Jones continued. “I was actually the first one that spotted the suspect. He spotted me and we ended up in a foot pursuit down Seacrest near the water tower. This went on for a short distance before he went into a wooded area and was ultimately apprehended by a canine.”
At the Old School Road residence, Jones discovered the home’s power and phone lines had been cut, something he said burglars do to disable alarms and surveillance systems.
Police from Delray Beach, Ocean Ridge and Boynton Beach assisted in the search and capture.
McMillian was charged with violating probation, loitering and prowling, trespass, burglary, striking a police dog and resisting arrest without violence. He remained in the Palm Beach County Jail in late June. Albert, who told police she had met McMillian at a party, was charged with trespassing and released on her own recognizance.
“We definitely did not want him here in our community having the opportunity to commit crimes, and because of the officers’ diligence and their quick response, he didn’t have an opportunity to commit crimes,” Jones said.
Mayor Scott Morgan agreed.
“It could have been a bad situation and their diligence prevented any sort of untoward event. So our gratitude to them,” Morgan said.
McMillian’s criminal record includes two cases of robbery with a firearm or deadly weapon. The chief said Gulf Stream residents were notified to shelter in place via PBC Alerts a little after 6 a.m. that day and the alert was lifted about an hour later. But an all-clear message did not go out until the afternoon.
“I just want to remind everybody that in a small town like ours, your police chief is actively involved. And therefore, I don’t have the opportunity sometimes to get those notifications with that courtesy information out as quickly as folks would like,” Jones said.
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