When was mcveigh caught

Deep Deuce is a historic part of town that once bustled with black nightclubs. The area was extolled by the famed Oklahoma City writer Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man , the classic novel about black life in segregated America. Heard thus, across the dark blocks lined with locust trees, through the night throbbing with the natural aural imagery of the blues, with highballing trains, departing bells, lonesome guitar chords simmering up from a shack in the alley, it was easy to imagine the voice as setting the pattern to which the instruments of the Blue Devils Orchestra and all the random sounds of night arose, affirming, as it were, some ideal native to the time and to the land.

They hanged from trees. By his account, he backed the car into the alley, which ended at a brick wall of a dilapidated warehouse. He got out and removed the license plate. Then he met up with Nichols and the two drove to Kansas, where they were living, and took the plate with them. When McVeigh was stopped, 90 minutes after the bombing, it was because of that missing license plate. So why did he remove it? After he turned the car off and got out, he slipped a paper towel over his gas tank in the back.

He reasoned that he would immediately be able to tell if someone had tampered with his car. He often suspected he might be watched by agents of one kind or another. Please do not tow. Will be removed by April 23rd. He told the always-suspicious Hanger that he was on a long, multi-state drive — moving to Arkansas and on his way to get more of his belongings.

But there was no suitcase in the car. No change of clothes, either. McVeigh was wearing a loaded Glock pistol and had a 6-inch knife on his belt. As Hanger drove back to the Noble County Courthouse, McVeigh, sitting in the passenger seat, rattled off the serial number of his gun, correctly except for a single digit. He asked Hanger how fast his car ran, what kind of firearm he carried, how he could get his own gun back. They were still sending units to Oklahoma City.

I never made any comment about it and he never made any comment about it. Like everyone else, he was glued to the TV news coverage of the bombing. As the nation searched for the bomber and public speculation lingered on men of Middle Eastern descent,McVeigh sat in a concrete cell atop the aging courthouse. McVeigh was supposed to go before a county judge the next day, Thursday, but his hearing was delayed because the judge got tied up in a messy divorce case.

The hearing was rescheduled for Friday. Hanger was at home that morning when a dispatcher with Highway Patrol headquarters called asking if McVeigh was still in jail.

Hanger doubted it, since he could easily make bail, but to his surprise McVeigh was still there, his car still parked by the interstate about 35 miles south of the Kansas state line. McVeigh probably would be seeing the judge any minute, Hanger told the dispatcher. Put a hold on him for the FBI, he was told. Flung two blocks from the blast site, the axle still held the vehicle identification number, which led authorities to the rental agency and then to a motel where McVeigh had stayed, registered under his real name.

Authorities had learned McVeigh was in jail because Hanger had run his Social Security number through a national crime database after his arrest. His role quickly got out and people wanted him — reporters for interviews, Oklahomans just to say thanks. Someone went to the local florist and tried to order flowers for Hanger, planning to follow the delivery driver to his home.

No one seemed surprised it was Hanger who made the arrest. Charlie took McVeigh to jail and booked him on a carrying a concealed weapon charge.

It was here that McVeigh gave his address in Michigan — the address he gave was that of the brother of his accomplice, Terry Nichols. McVeigh would probably have been given a court appearance date and released either the next day — or at the latest, the day after — except for a little bit of luck.

The judge he was to appear in front of was unavailable because of family issues. He was but a few miles from the scene, already in jail courtesy of Trooper Charlie Hanger. During a routine search of his own squad, Charlie found a business card discarded by McVeigh while he was squirming and handcuffed in the back seat of the squad.

The card would turn out to be quite damning — it was the card of a military surplus store in Wisconsin. Charlie believed that by increasing his stops, he was increasing the odds that he would make a difference, and that one stop he made years ago proved him right. But it was much more than that. Any police officer can be at the right place at the right time and still choose to do nothing.

Charlie proves that the right cop at the right place at the right time can do the right thing and make a difference in this world.

Dan Marcou is an internationally-recognized police trainer who was a highly-decorated police officer with 33 years of full-time law enforcement experience. Upon retiring, Lt. Marcou began writing. Dan is a member of the Police1 Editorial Advisory Board. More Police1 Articles. Get More Information. More Terrorism Prevention and Response News. More Product Listings.

More Product news. More Terrorism Prevention and Response Videos. Make Police1 your homepage.