Lufkin Police Release Bodycam Video of Fugitive Capture

Lufkin Police have released the above video compiled from officer body-worn cameras which show the events from overnight Tuesday leading to the arrest of 22-year-old Trace Bentley, of Lufkin.

Around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Lufkin Police received a report that Bentley, who previously fled from DPS in a vehicle on a felony warrant, was at a home in the Crown Colony subdivision.

As officers approached the home, he fled in his vehicle and wrecked into trees lining the driveway. Moments later, he wrecked out at a neighboring home, disabling his vehicle.

Bentley then fled on foot into a wooded area behind the subdivision where he hid in a deer stand with a gun. Officers searching a highline for him came across the deer stand around 9:05 p.m., calling for additional manpower.

Crisis negotiator Officer David McMullen can be heard speaking with Bentley, asking him to put the gun down and come out of the deer stand. Those negotiations lasted until around 1:40 a.m., when the Special Response Team fired tear gas into the stand. Bentley then exited the stand and was taken into custody. Officers recovered .40-caliber handgun from inside the stand.

A search of his vehicle uncovered digital scales, a roll of cash and a broken methamphetamine pipe.

He is charged with unlawful carry of a weapon and evading arrest with a vehicle in addition to warrants for possession of a controlled substance, evading arrest and resisting arrest.