Tulsa man takes chasing down theives into his own hands

A Tulsa man's quest to chase down the people who broke into his house and tried to cash his checks has been successful. <br><br>News on Six crime reporter Lori Fullbright says you want to talk about

Thursday, January 9th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A Tulsa man's quest to chase down the people who broke into his house and tried to cash his checks has been successful.

News on Six crime reporter Lori Fullbright says you want to talk about a string of rotten luck, Ron Culver had it. It all started when someone tried to steal his truck from his driveway in September. He grabbed the girl; she started screaming to her partner to run him over. The other girl tried, but missed. She got away, the one he grabbed, went to jail.

Then, a month later, someone broke into his house and stole his son's piggy bank. Then on Christmas day, another break-in, this time it was his stereo equipment. So when a bank called and said someone was trying to cash one of his checks for a thousand dollars, Ron Culver had had enough.

When F & M Bank at Utica Square called Ron Culver to say some people had just cashed one of his checks for a thousand dollars and were trying to cash another, he jumped into action. â€œI said, are they still there? She said yes. I said, I'll be right there and just threw the phone down."

He pulled up just as the bad guys were taking off. So, he took off after them. "Here we do this big chase thing down 21st street like a couple of idiots, that I was." The people in the car darted into a parking lot, did a U-turn and headed back up 21st street with Culver right on their tail. He even smashed them into the curb, causing their tire to go flat, while giving directions to 911 the whole time. "We're going north on Yorktown, now east on 19th Street, south on Victor, now we're east on 18th Street."

The suspect's finally stopped and even though police were trying to catch up, Culver told the police dispatcher he wasn't going to let them get away after all this. â€œIf they try to get out, I'm pushing this car as far as I have to. There was complete silence on the other end of the phone, there was nothing."

Police captured Frankie Combs, who had another of Culver's checks, already made out for $5,000. The bad part about the whole chase, Culver's seven-year-old son was with him the whole time. "We were going back to the bank and I told my son, this was not a good idea although I'm glad it turned out great. Just as serious as he could, he says, I kinda miss the action. (laughter)."

Turns out the suspects in the car were the same ones who'd tried to run Culver down in his driveway in September. Needless to say, police say no one should chase after suspects, because this case could've had a much worse ending.

Even Culver says he wouldn't recommend it, but at the moment, he just wasn't going to take being a victim, sitting still.