Somerset —
Authorities arrested a Somerset man this week after he allegedly took several items from a local store and led responding officers on a pursuit.
Officers with the Somerset Police Department on Monday evening were called to Kmart, located on East Ky. 80, after they received a complaint that a man was shoplifting items from the store, according to SPD Lt. Shannon Smith.
Smith said SPD Officer William Greer arrived on the scene and saw the suspect, identified as David Brian Tomlinson, 33, of Rose Road in Somerset, leaving the parking lot in a 2002 Mercury Sable.
Smith said Greer turned his emergency lights on, and that’s when he reportedly saw a female attempt to open a car door. Smith said it appeared that Tomlinson “wasn’t letting her” escape from the vehicle.
Once Greer saw the female attempt to leave the vehicle, the situation became more serious.
“Tomlinson fled the scene with two female passengers and refused to stop for officers while they pursued him westbound on the bypass,” Smith said.
Tomlinson headed west on East Ky. 80 and turned right onto U.S. 27 during the pursuit, and officers allegedly saw Tomlinson throw several items from the car.
“These items were later discovered to be the items Tomlinson was seen stealing inside Kmart by employees,” Smith said.
Smith said the female passengers later told officers that Tomlinson told them to throw the items out of the car, but they refused to do so.
The pursuit came to an end when Tomlinson pulled over in the Don Marshall Choice parking lot, located on Ky. 2227.
The female passengers were not identified, but Smith said one woman is from Somerset and is 20 years old, and he said the second woman is from liberty, and she’s 35 years old.
They were not injured in the incident, and Smith said they cooperated fully with officers.
Smith said it’s unclear currently whether the females were in the store with Tomlinson or whether they waited for him in the car.
“They (the female passengers) told officers they were unaware the theft had taken place and pleaded with Tomlinson to stop, but he refused until he discarded the stolen property,” Smith said.
Smith said the excellent communication between Kmart employees, the 911 dispatcher and SPD made Tomlinson’s apprehension possible.
“If not for that communication, we may not have seen the, leave, may not have known who was leaving,” Smith said.
Tomlinson was arrested and charged with theft by unlawful taking, DUI, first-degree fleeing or evading police, tampering with physical evidence, and two counts of first-degree unlawful imprisonment.
Tomlinson was lodged in the Pulaski County Detention Center.
The investigation by SPD is continuing.
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