THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 23, 1995 TAG: 9506230556
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, MARA STANLEY AND STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
An escapee who overpowered a sheriff's deputy Wednesday appeared to have narrowly avoided capture late Thursday, possibly fleeing out the back door of a house off Tidewater Drive just moments before police arrived.
Police were searching the home in the 1200 block of Goff Street early today to make sure Terrance L. Agnew was not still hiding inside, but residents told them he had fled.
Police with K-9 dogs were searching a wide area around the home, still hoping to nab Agnew, a repeat armed robber with a history of cocaine abuse and mental illness.
Agnew's location was discovered when police spotted and stopped a 1991 silver Eagle Talon he was believed to have stolen at gunpoint Wednesday night, hours after escaping custody. He wasn't in the car. But a young man and woman in the car who know Agnew told police that Agnew was in the house nearby.
Police spokesman Larry Hill said at least three people were in the house. ``We are talking to them,'' Hill said.
Agnew was being driven back to the Hampton City Jail after a court appearance in Norfolk on Wednesday afternoon when, police said, he overpowered deputy Chester V. Haas Jr., and took his .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver.
Agnew left the deputy handcuffed to a fence near Military Circle and took off in the sheriff's department car. It was later found abandoned.
The Eagle Talon was carjacked not far from where the deputy's car was recovered.
On Thursday, a sheriff's department spokesman said Agnew may have freed himself from his handcuffs by using a homemade key.
Sheriff's department spokesman George Schaefer said Agnew, 27, used a pen to wedge the key out of a hiding place between the sole and the upper part of one of the basketball shoes he was wearing.
Schaefer said Agnew was wearing leg irons and handcuffs. But he was not wearing a waist chain.
Although Agnew was accompanied by one deputy, departmental regulations call for two.
A Plexiglas security barrier that could be opened only from the front seat separated Agnew from Haas. Schaefer could not say how Agnew got past the barrier and took Haas's revolver.
``We have bits and pieces to put together,'' Schaefer said. ``We have two witnesses, Agnew and Haas, and we're waiting for Haas to regroup.''
Haas, 63, was placed on administrative leave, pending further action, Schaefer said.
Agnew was being held in the Hampton City Jail. He was being taken from a probation violation hearing in Norfolk Circuit Court back to Hampton when he overpowered Haas.
Agnew was not strip-searched in Hampton or Norfolk because he was taken from the jail directly to the courtroom lockup.
Inmates receive a pat-down search when leaving the Hampton facility, said Lt. Tammy Toney a Hampton deputy sheriff, but they are strip-searched when they return.
Toney said the Hampton jail considered Agnew to be a high-risk inmate.
Haas was overpowered about 3:15 p.m. Wednesday. His car was recovered in the 1400 block of Ramblewood Road in Norfolk at about 11 p.m.
The Eagle Talon was carjacked at about 9:30 p.m. in the 6700 block of Tanners Creek Drive, not far from Ramblewood Avenue.
A 26-year-old Navy man reported that he was forced out of his car, said police spokesman Larry Hill. He was unhurt.
Haas was in Hampton when Agnew overpowered him. The prisoner grabbed the deputy's gun and forced Haas to drive around and then back to Norfolk.
They got to the Glenrock section of Norfolk about 4:30 p.m.
There, Agnew cuffed Haas to a chainlink fence near the 300 block of Honaker Street, just off Poplar Hall Drive. The fence is near a pedestrian walkway that spans Interstate 264.
A passersby heard Haas' calls for help and summoned police.
Haas suffered cuts and bruises on his arm, Schaefer said.
``From my observation, he was shaken up emotionally,'' Schaefer said.
Agnew, who has listed addresses in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, was serving a 52-year sentence for robbery convictions in Norfolk and Hampton and was awaiting trial on 17 other robbery charges.
A spokesman for the state Department of Corrections said Agnew's first conviction was for robbery, in 1980.
During that time he was jailed in state facilities in Harrisonburg, Barhamsville and Chesterfield County until his parole in October 1990.
He was picked up that December on a parole violation and housed in the Norfolk City jail until June 1993, then transferred to the Hampton City jail.
Agnew also has a history of cocaine abuse and was diagnosed as a ``malingering and antisocial personality,'' court records show. He was treated at a state mental hospital and was taking medication as of last year.
Agnew, who also is known as Terry L. Williams or James J. Hardy, is described as black, 5 feet 7 inches tall and 150 pounds. He was wearing a blue denim jacket, blue jeans and black sneakers. He has been known to frequent the Janaf and Military Circle shopping centers.
State police spokeswoman Tammy Van Dame said the Tidewater Fugitive Apprehension Task Force has joined the search. Anyone with information about Agnew is asked to call Special Agent Danny Plott at 1-800-582-8350. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Terrance L. Agnew, a repeat armed robber, has a history of cocaine
abuse and mental illness.
KEYWORDS: ESCAPED PRISONER ROBBERY by CNB