BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. — Police arrested a man Thursday after pulling him out of the restaurant crawl space in which he had been hiding for more than six hours.
Walker Lewis Corkran, 29, was arraigned on charges of breaking and entering.
Bridgeport police received a report around 2 a.m. that a man had broken into the T&L Hot Dogs along Main Street.
“Officers were in the area so they had about a one- to two-minute response time,” said police chief John Walker. “When they arrived, they spotted the intruder inside the building. They tried to talk him out, (but) he wouldn’t come out and actually disappeared for quite a while.”
Backup arrived from the department’s special-response team, the Clarksburg K9 unit and the Harrison County sheriff’s department, which quickly secured the perimeter.
Knowing Corkran had no escape outlet, officers swept the area for hours to no avail. It would take a keen eye to finally locate the suspect.
“There was some—tunnels is not really the correct word—nooks, crooks and crannies in the basement,” Walker said. “It was mostly a dirt basement and (officers) were able to located a small area, a very small area that had been boarded up. He was hiding in there.”
Law enforcement finally pulled Corkran out and arrested him at approximately 8 a.m.
“He was likely breaking in to basically rob the place, steal the money,” Walker said. “If they have any on the premises.”
Corkran was wanted on previous charges dealing with domestic violence cases.
“There were two outstanding (warrants) for him on charges that he failed to appear,” Walker said. “He had quite an extensive criminal history.”
Corkran was arraigned later Thursday morning and transported to North Central Regional Jail.
Main Street in front of T&L Hot Dogs was blocked off for roughly three hours during the incident.