By Zak Brown
Daily Camera
BOULDER, Colo. — A foot pursuit that began Monday night with a sushi chef chasing a dine-and-dasher ended with a dog pulling a man soaked in pepper spray from under a car.
Daniel Axford McKeever, 30, was arrested Monday night on suspicion of skipping out on a $15 bill at Boulder’s Sushi Zanmai. As he ran from the restaurant, police say, he struck a bus boy who was chasing him and eluded a chef.
Police eventually found McKeever -- who is from California -- under a car eight blocks from the restaurant. They ordered him from under the vehicle and threatened to use pepper spray to force him out.
According to police, McKeever had struck the bus boy with a wooden stick, and some witnesses said he also had a samurai sword.
When McKeever did not respond to police requests, officers fired a pepper ball under the car. When that did not force him out, they fired “several” more under the car, according to police. When he still didn’t come out, police approached with a dog and told McKeever he would be pulled out if he didn’t voluntarily come out. When he didn’t comply, the dog bit him on the leg and forced him out.
Next to him beneath the car, police found a 3½-foot stick, 2 inches in diameter. They did not find a sword.
According to police, McKeever said he ran from the restaurant because he had forgotten his wallet. When an officer found his wallet while searching McKeever, he replied that “it must have just appeared.”
When asked why he didn’t comply with officers’ demands, even after the pepper balls, he said it was “exciting” and told officers: “You have to admit, this is why you do this job.”
McKeever also told police he was going to leave a $100 tip at the restaurant after he was released and that he was going to write a letter to the police department about “a job well done.”
McKeever was being held in the Boulder County Jail on Tuesday night on suspicion of second-degree assault, felony menacing, theft and resisting arrest.
Copyright 2009 Daily Camera