Posted on 10/30/2008 3:25:23 PM PDT by Shermy
The saga of a man who stole a Krispy Kreme doughnut truck in Madison last year and led police on a chase with doughnuts flying out the back of the truck ended Thursday when he was sent to prison.
Warren Whitelightning, 37, of Crandon, was sentenced Thursday by Dane County Circuit Court Judge Stuart Schwartz to two years in prison to be followed by three years of extended supervision. Schwartz was ordered to undergo a drug and alcohol assessment, take part in any recommended treatment, maintain absolute sobriety during his three years of supervision, and have an ignition interlock device installed on any vehicle he drives during that three years.
Whitelightning's adventure with the doughnut truck began when he walked into the Open Pantry on Nov. 24, 2007 and went to the aisle where they had giant red-hot pickled sausages.
After stealing a box of eight of the sausages, Whitelightning picked up a couple of six packs of beer and put them on the counter. But as Whitelightning turned away, the alert clerk hid the six packs and ordered Whitelightning out of the store. Whitelightning left, but moments later the store clerk and the Krispy Kreme driver, who had been stocking product inside, watched in horror as Whitelightning took the truck, drove around the parking lot a couple of times, then headed out on University Avenue.
Within moments police were in the area and found the truck. But as officers from the Madison Police Department and the University Police Department gave chase, Whitelightning showed little inclination to pull over.
Much of the chase, including when the rear doors of the truck flew open and Krispy Kreme doughnuts started flying out of the back, was recorded for posterity on the videotape from the pursuing squad cars -- which of course, eventually made Whitelightning a celebrity when the tapes made it to YouTube.
At one point it appeared Whitelightning might be ready to give up. He stopped the truck and University Police Officer Aaron Chapin stopped his squad behind the truck. But Whitelightning threw the gears into reverse and backed toward Chapin, who couldn't move his squad out of the way because of other police pulling up. The Krispy Kreme truck rammed into Chapin's squad at 10 to 15 mph, causing neck and back strains and pain to the officer.
Whitelightning wasn't done yet, and kept driving around the west side -- sometimes at speeds of up to 80 mph, sometimes at low speeds, but with a persistence not to give up. Finally he caused a large shower of sparks while going the wrong way on University Avenue, then crossing the median with the truck bottom scraping the cement divide.
Whitelightning stopped the truck in the parking lot of Copps, got out, lay down on the pavement and readied himself to be handcuffed. When one of the officers asked if he had been drinking, Whitelightning said "I want an attorney."
He was scheduled to be sentenced in May 2008 but did not show up, so Judge Schwartz issued a bench warrant for Whitelightning's arrest. Whitelightning managed to elude authorities until Sept. 10 when he was riding in a car driven by Jean Jacobson, 44, also of Crandon, which was stopped in a parking lot on Verona Road because of erratic driving.
Jacobson, who had posted the $2,100 cash bail which was forfeited when Whitelightning failed to show up at his sentencing hearing, was arrested for seventh time drunken driving.
Whitelightning was also taken into custody then and was held for Thursday's sentencing hearing. Along with the charge of stealing the truck, for which he was sent to prison, Whitelightning was sentenced on several lesser charges, all to be served concurrent to the Krispy Kreme truck theft sentence. He was also fined some $900 on a drunken driving charge from that night and the hit-and-run involving the squad car.
Jacobson is set for a plea and sentencing hearing in November on her drunken driving charge, while Whitelightning could face more time behind bars when cases pending against him in in Forest and Marathon counties are completed. In Forest County he faces two charges of operating after revocation of his driver's license and one of bail jumping, while in Marathon County he faces another stolen vehicle charge along with bail jumping, drunken driving and operating after revocation.
Whitelightning's adventure with the doughnut truck began when he walked into the Open Pantry on Nov. 24, 2007 and went to the aisle where they had giant red-hot pickled sausages.
Well in North Carolina, way back in the hills
Me and my old pappy had a hand in a still
We brewed white lightnin’ ‘til the sun went down
Then he’d fill him a jug and he’d pass it around
Mighty, mighty pleasin, pappy’s corn squeezin’
Whshhhoooh . . . white lightnin’
Chorus:
Well the “G” men, “T” men, revenuers, too
Searchin’ for the place where he made his brew
They were looking, tryin to book him,
But my pappy kept a-cookin’
Whshhhoooh . . . white lightnin’
-— Instrumental -—
Well I asked my old pappy why he called his brew
White lightnin’ ‘stead of mountain dew
I took a little sip and right away I knew
As my eyes bugged out and my face turned blue
Lightnin’ started flashin’ and thunder started crashin’
Shhhoooh . . . white lightnin’
Chorus:
Well the “G” men, “T” men, revenuers, too
Searchin’ for the place where he made his brew
They were looking, tryin to book him,
but my pappy kept a-cookin’
Whshhhoooh . . . white lightnin’
Well a city slicker came and he said “I’m tough”
I think I wanna taste that powerful stuff
He took one g-g-glug and drank it right down
And I heard him a moaning as he hit the ground
Mighty, mighty pleasin, pappy’s corn squeezin’
Whshhhoooh . . . white lightnin’
Chorus:
Well the “G” men, “T” men, revenuers, too
Searchin’ for the place where he made his brew
They were looking, tryin to book him,
but my pappy kept a-cookin’
Whshhhoooh . . . white lightnin’...
I LOVE Krispy Kreme. Fortunately, I can’t get any around here where I live.
Bet the police took this one personally.
I remember around 30 years ago a guy in Montgomery Alabama, stole a beer truck, drove it to a remote location and started drinking up the contents.
Me too and I can. But I normally just buy mine.
Well I do believe that his last drive was at least a fun one!
Sounds like something from a movie with all those doughnuts flying around.
Due to this guy's activities, Diana In Wisconsin is probably looking at a property tax refund.
One of my favorite songs!
BALLAD OF THUNDER ROAD
Let me tell the story, I can tell it all
About the mountain boy who ran illegal alcohol
His daddy made the whiskey, son, he drove the load
When his engine roared, they called the highway Thunder Road.
Sometimes into Ashville, sometimes Memphis town
The revenoors chased him but they couldn’t run him down
Each time they thought they had him, his engine would explode
He’d go by like they were standin’ still on Thunder Road.
(CHORUS)
And there was thunder, thunder over Thunder Road
Thunder was his engine, and white lightning was his load
There was moonshine, moonshine to quench the Devil’s thirst
The law they swore they’d get him, but the Devil got him first.
On the first of April, nineteen fifty-four
A Federal man sent word he’d better make his run no more
He said two hundred agents were coverin’ the state
Whichever road he tried to take, they’d get him sure as fate.
Son, his Daddy told him, make this run your last
The tank is filled with hundred-proof, you’re all tuned up and gassed
Now, don’t take any chances, if you can’t get through
I’d rather have you back again than all that mountain dew.
(CHORUS)
Roarin’ out of Harlan, revvin’ up his mill
He shot the gap at Cumberland, and screamed by Maynordsville
With T-men on his taillights, roadblocks up ahead
The mountain boy took roads that even Angels feared to tred.
Blazing right through Knoxville, out on Kingston Pike,
Then right outside of Bearden, they made the fatal strike.
He left the road at 90; that’s all there is to say.
The devil got the moonshine and the mountain boy that day.
Did he really think the police WOULDN’T chase him?
[okay, while stopping to pick up a crumb or two...]
Wait. What if they ate the evidence?
BTW I recognized some of the scenes from the movie. It was filmed in Asheville and on old U.S. 70 East of Black Mountain.
The movie version was sung by a woman and one difference is:
Let me tell the story, I can tell it all.
About a whippoorwill that ran illegal alcohol.
I guess at this point the Krispy Kreme driver wished that the "alert" clerk had let him buy the beer and go on his merry way..
“Due to this guy’s activities, Diana In Wisconsin is probably looking at a property tax refund.”
LOL! I wish!
Well, it wasn't a bad escape strategy.
:^O
Thanks; I’ll ping this when I get home.
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