Vicksburg police and Warren County law enforcement officials arrest 29-year-old Rudy Smith Jr., on Confederate Avenue Monday morning following a car chase and foot pursuit. At bottom right, leaving his police car, is Patrolman Steven Snow, who spotted the suspect’s car after watching surveillance tapes from a car burglary the day before.(Brian Loden The Vicksburg Post)

[8/31/04]A theft suspect police are calling a one-man crime spree was nonetheless polite to owners of a residence where he took refuge during a chase Monday.

Adele Beck said she went to see why the back door of her Parkside Circle home had opened and found, as her mother described, “the most polite intruder we could imagine.”

After arresting him a few minutes later, police identified the man as Rudy Smith Jr., 29, 605 Cain Ridge Road, Apt. L8.

What became a 40-minute car and foot chase through Marcus Bottom and the Wisteria Drive/Mulvihill area Monday started at 9:45 a.m. when Patrolman Steven Snow saw Smith driving a green Ford Escort south on Halls Ferry Road. Snow recognized the Escort, due to a dent, from surveillance tapes officers viewed from the Hampton Inn after a car was burglarized there Sunday.

“He was a one-man crime spree,” said Vicksburg Police Sgt. Tom Wilson.

The burglaries at Hampton Inn, 3332 Clay St., included $7,000 worth of electronic equipment taken from one vehicle. Earlier Monday at Lovie’s Day Care Center, 3529 Wisconsin Ave., several purses were stolen from parked cars. Witnesses decribed the suspect’s car in interviews with police.

All of the property has been recovered except for an iPod music player from the Hampton Inn burglary, Capt. Mark Culbertson said.

Snow followed Smith as he turned on to Marcus Street. As Smith neared the intersection of Marcus and Confederate Avenue, Snow turned on the siren and blue lights. Smith slowed as if he was going to stop at the intersection, then sped forward on to Confederate Avenue.

Snow chased Smith to the grassy hill behind the North Carolina monument, where Smith abandoned his car while it was still moving forward. The car slipped into the kudzu and Smith ran into the Wisteria Drive area where he entered the Beck house.

Adele Beck quoted Smith, when found in the house, as saying “They beat me up, they beat me up.”

“We offered to call the police, but he said no,'” she added.

Instead, Adele Beck said, the suspect asked twice for permission to use the cell phone, which was lying on a nearby table. Her mother came downstairs at this time and saw Smith.

Despite the situation, Holly Beck said she never felt threatened.

“He never treated us with any violence,” Holly Beck said.

While he was holding the phone, Smith heard police sirens and ran out of the house. The encounter lasted about three minutes, Adele Beck said.

“I don’t think he meant to steal the phone. It was just in his hand when he left,” Adele Beck said.

Next, Smith is believed to have kicked in the back door of 1454 Parkside Circle, which was not occupied. All the while he was using the cell phone to call friends to come get him, Wilson said.

Again he heard police pursuing him, so Smith ran to Mulvihill Street, where he flagged down a vehicle driven by Brian Loden, photo editor of The Vicksburg Post, who was covering the chase. Smith asked for a ride up the hill, but took off again after seeing an unmarked Vicksburg police car behind Loden’s.

Police followed and arrested Smith in front of 2615 Confederate Ave. at 10:25 a.m., Wilson said. He faces eight felony charges:

Three counts of auto burglary

Two counts of grand larceny

One count of burglary of an unoccupied dwelling

One count of burglary of an occupied dwelling

One count of felony evasion

Smith was at Issaquena County Jail on an $80,000 bond. He will be arraigned Wednesday afternoon in Municipal Court, Wilson said.

In a separate chase, Paul Elqadi led Vicksburg and Warren County officers on a run starting at 1:51 this morning.

Elqadi, 30, 602 Cain Ridge Road, didn’t pull over after Vicksburg police turned on the blue lights after seeing an expired tag on his 2003 maroon Chevrolet Blazer. The chase began near Halls Ferry and Porters Chapel roads, Capt. Mark Culbertson said.

Police pursued Elqadi to Gibson Road, then to Mississippi 27, where Warren County deputies arrested him. The report did not list where Elqadi was stopped on the highway.

Elqadi faces charges of felony eluding and an alcohol-related misdemeanor. He was being processed this morning at the Vicksburg police headquarters before being taken to the Warren County Jail, Culbertson said. His bond is $10,000.