Alleged escapee asks not to be shot by Moore homeowners

By Tom Blakey

August 07, 2008 12:09 am

— An Oklahoma City man may have been grateful for his recapture, when, after allegedly escaping from a Moore police officer's custody and kicking in the door of a residential garage, he reportedly asked the home's residents not to shoot him.
Joshua Allen Smrcka, 27, was charged Wednesday in Cleveland County District Court with first degree burglary and operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of liquor.
Moore Police Lt. David Wright reportedly pulled Smrcka over around 2:30 a.m. for driving left of center in the 500 block of Northeast 12th Street in Moore.
Wright arrested Smrcka for driving under the influence, placed him in the back seat of the patrol car and "rolled the window down so he could get some air," Wright said.
Smrcka allegedly slipped out of his handcuffs, reached out the window and opened the door. He ran south on Berwyck, jumped a fence and ran west into the back yard of a house in the 1100 block of Elmhurst, Wright said.
Smrcka "kicked in the side garage door of a residence and advised the residents not to shoot him," Wright said.
Smrcka was taken back into police custody, found to have a suspended license and booked into the Cleveland County Detention Center, where he refused a breathalyzer test, police said.
Other felonies filed Wednesday include:
· Philip Ray Payne, 51, Healdton, driving under the influence of drugs, after former conviction of a felony.