Registered Sex Offender Leads Police on Three County Chase
By: Lisa Carr
Updated: April 21, 2009
A police chase through three area counties has a rather bizarre beginning. A registered sex offender was caught exposing himself in public, but had no intentions of being arrested. 53-year-old Richard Taber is charged with two counts of indecent exposure and one count of evading arrest. Officials say they caught Taber pleasuring himself inside his car in East Lubbock County, and when they tried to approach his car, he took off. Taber led authorities from Lubbock into Crosby County where he side-swiped at least two police vehicles. Finally, after authorities set up a second set of spike strips, the chase ended in Dickens County. Ralls Police Chief Jason Collier was in one of the cars Taber hit. Collier says, "It was kind of a surprise. You never think someone's gonna do something like that to you. People do desperate things in desperate times. He was doing anything he could to try to get away from us, but we knew we had one job to do and we just wanted to put an end to that pursuit for public safety."
Taber has been convicted several times in the past of indecent exposure. He's been a registered sex offender in Texas since 2000. Tonight he remains in the Dickens County Jail. He'll most likely also end up facing charges of aggravated assault on a peace officer for side-swiping the police vehicles during the chase.
