Beer busted

Man in a van hooks a suspected crook wearing a backpack full of brewskis

The beer traveled well. The suspected shoplifter didn't.

A cat-and-mouse chase between a 69-year-old man in a van and a 21-year-old bicyclist ended Monday afternoon with the biker beerless and arrested.

Kalispell police arrested Andrew J. Fox on suspicion of stealing a 12-pack of beer from Tidyman's, 55 First Ave. E.N.

On Monday afternoon, Bob Tate of Kalispell was at Tidyman's camera counter, shopping for batteries for his digital camera when he heard two clerks talk about a man who had just run out with a 12-pack of beer.

He went outside with the clerks and the store's manager, who pointed north at a man on a red bike, wearing a black sweater with white trim and a camouflage backpack.

"Just because I was ornery that day, I said I'd get him," said Tate, a sculptor of Western and wildlife bronzes.

He hopped into his Dodge Caravan and chased the bicyclist north toward East Idaho Street.

Tate pulled his van ahead of the bike, stopped and got out to grab its handlebars. The bicyclist, aware that someone was chasing him, swerved around Tate. "He took off as fast as he could," Tate said.

That began a zig-zag chase lasting from 15 to 20 minutes over roughly 10 blocks.

Tate would pull even or ahead of the bike. Then the bike would swerve into an alley, or cross a yard, or do a U-turn. Keeping the bike in sight, Tate also would swerve, or do a U-turn, or drive on an interception course. The bicyclist rode on streets, sidewalks and grass.

This happened over and over.

Finally, the bicyclist rode along one street on the grass; Tate couldn't remember which street other than it was north of Idaho. Tate pulled the van partially into an alley to block the tired bicyclist.

The bicyclist stopped, got off, put his bike in the street and turned it around.

"I slipped [the van] in reverse and bumped the bicycle," Tate said. The bike fell over.

He got out and approached Fox, who is 6 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 195 pounds. Tate is 6 feet, 1 inch tall and weighs 205 pounds. A woman in another car stopped and called the police from a nearby house.

Tate said he grabbed Fox by the backpack and threw him to the ground, and then stood back. "He was big enough. I knew better than to let him get a hold of me. … That kinda took the fight out of him," Tate said.

The 12-pack of beer fell out of the backpack, crumbling the cardboard container but leaving the cans intact.

Tate said he stood on the bike's wheel, and Fox ran for about a half block and then slipped on the ice. He then returned to Tate and tried to talk Tate into giving him the beer and forgetting the whole thing, Tate said. Besides, the beer was damaged goods, Fox argued, pointing to the crumbled cardboard container.

Tate said: No.

Then Fox told Tate to keep the beer and not turn him in.

Tate said: No way.

Then the police arrived and arrested Fox. Fox currently is serving a three-year deferred sentence and a five-year suspended sentence on two burglary convictions, according to the Montana Department of Corrections.

As a reward, Tidyman's gave Tate a coupon for free coffee.