High-speed pursuit ends in suicide

FORT SUMNER — A 30-year-old Louisiana man shot himself following an April 8 high-speed chase involving New Mexico State Police, De Baca County Sheriff’s personnel and Santa Rosa City Police.

Jock Waylon Thacker, 30, whose last known address was in Reeves, La., fled State Police on Interstate 40 after they attempted to stop him for speeding near Clines Corners.

Driving a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am, Thacker reached speeds of more than 120 mph during a pursuit that covered almost 100 miles, officials said.

The chase ended on U.S. 84 north of Fort Sumner after De Baca County Sheriff Chad Roybal successfully deployed spike strips and flattened all four tires on the suspect’s vehicle. The car soon traveled off the roadway and into the ditch on the west side of the highway.

Roybal told the De Baca County News that officers from all three agencies took tactical positions behind their vehicles as the suspect was ordered to exit the vehicle.

Officers created a safe perimeter for what appeared to be a standoff, but after about an hour with no response from the vehicle, State Police approached and found Thacker deceased in the driver’s seat with a gunshot wound to the head. A 9mm semiautomatic handgun was recovered from the vehicle.