Bowling Green man accused of assaulting officer, stealing officer’s gun and patrol car

SOUR LAKE, Texas – A Bowling Green man is accused of attacking a Sour Lake, Texas police officer Monday, stealing his gun and driving off in his patrol car.

At about 8:30 p.m. Monday, Officer Bill McKeon was dispatched to a convenience market to address a loiterer on the property, Sour Lake Police Chief Aaron Burleson said.

Immediately upon his arrival, he made contact with Bradley Pruitt, of Bowling Green, who is accused of a brutal assault on McKeon.

“He gave no warning, just aggressively attacked him,” Burleson said. “He pulverized his face.”

While McKeon was knocked out on the ground, Burleson said Pruitt took the officer’s backup weapon.

A bystander attempted to help the officer and Pruitt fired on him, Burleson said. An off-duty officer who was walking to the store with his family to pick up ice cream heard the gunshots and attempted to intervene. He fired a round at Pruitt before his gun jammed. That officer then backed away to get his family to safety, Burleson said.

Pruitt then tried to open the door to McKeon’s locked police cruiser. When he couldn’t get into the cruiser, he returned to McKeon, placed McKeon in the officer’s own handcuffs and took his keys, Burleson said.

Pruitt was unable to unlock the car with the keys so he shot out the driver’s side window and crawled into the car before driving off in the cruiser, Burleson said. An off-duty constable responded to the area and followed Pruitt. Once other officers arrived, they placed tire deflation devices in the path of the cruiser before Pruitt pulled the car into a wooded area.

Pruitt exited the cruiser and exchanged gunfire with law enforcement before running off into a 10,000-acre pine forest, Burleson said.

“We did a very aggressive search throughout the night and that morning,” Burelson said. “While we were regrouping one of the troopers saw him. He came out of the treeline and gave up to state trooper.”

He was arrested at 6:04 a.m. Tuesday.

Pruitt was charged with aggravated assault against a public servant, two counts of aggravated assault causing bodily injury, evading arrest/detention, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and taking a weapon from an officer. He is being held in the Hardin County (Texas) Jail. His combined bond is set at $4 million.

Pruitt was charged last month with theft in Houston. He is wanted by both New Mexico and Arizona, Burleson said.

Pruitt has a violent criminal history in Bowling Green. In 2015, he pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting a police officer. Also in 2015 he pleaded guilty to terroristic threatening. In 2013, he pleaded guilty to violation of a Kentucky protective order. In 2013, he pleaded guilty to a 2012 domestic assault.

McKeon is hospitalized with multiple injuries. He suffered a fractured vertebrae in his neck, two breaks in his jawbone, both nasal cavities are collapsed and his right eye socket is broken, Burleson said.

Burleson sat with McKeon’s family Tuesday night at a Texas hospital. McKeon has been with the department four years but has been in law enforcement for many more years.

He is well known in Sour Lake. He visits the local elementary school for lunch and is active with a local fire department. He is married and has children.