Shortly after 6pm on Wednesday, January 5th, dispatchers with the DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Office received a call regarding a White Chevy Z71 truck that had been stolen from the area of Kickapoo Corner parking lot in Gloster. At the time, the vehicle was reported to have left in the direction of Highway 171 in the northbound lane. As deputies responded, it was also reported that the driver was swerving on the roadway and had struck another vehicle as he exited onto 171. According to nearby witnesses, the driver began driving recklessly as he proceeded north on 171.
Shortly thereafter, Sheriff Jayson Richardson was off duty in the area of Sonic where he spotted a truck matching the description of the stolen vehicle. Sheriff Richardson pulled in behind the truck at the Sonic drive thru in his unmarked vehicle. As Sheriff Richardson began an attempt to identify the license plate of the vehicle, the driver began to exit onto Highway 171 South. The plate number was verified just as the suspect exited Sonic.
Sheriff Richardson then instructed nearby deputies to engage the vehicle for a traffic stop. Upon seeing blue lights, the driver immediately made a U-turn into the Northbound lane of 171 where he began driving erratically, weaving in and out of other vehicles on the roadway. Sheriff Richardson, Deputy Blake McCoy, and Deputy Travis Chelette followed. The driver quickly turned right onto Stonewall-Frierson Road where he began driving in-and-out of oncoming traffic at high rates of speed. Deputy Blake McCoy’s Tahoe was also struck at this time. In the area of Marketplace, just before I-49, the driver of the vehicle attempted to make an abrupt U-turn into oncoming traffic which resulted in Deputy McCoy striking the truck, which disabled it from further pursuit.
The suspect immediately exited the passenger side of the truck and began running toward a nearby wooded area where Sheriff Richardson and Deputy Travis Chelette engaged in a foot pursuit taking the suspect into custody. Deputy McCoy sustained minor injuries during impact with the stolen vehicle. He was treated and released later that evening. It was determined that the suspect, Mason Andrew Mascola (W/M – 27yoa) was under the influence of a narcotics at the time of his arrest.
Mascola is currently being held at the DeSoto Parish Detention Center on charges of: Theft of a Motor Vehicle, Aggravated Flight from an Officer, and Resisting an Officer.
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