UPDATE: Suspect in vehicle break-ins flees WKU police on bicycle, facing handgun and drug charges

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A Bowling Green man is facing weapon and drug charges after evading police.

The Western Kentucky Police Department says it observed a man who matched the description of a suspect in multiple vehicle break-ins on Normal Street next to WKU’s South Lot early Tuesday morning.

Police say the suspect jumped on his bicycle and fled through Normal Street. An officer says the man was then able to travel through University Boulevard where the officer lost sight of the suspect.

The officer continued onto Nashville Road and located the subject. The subject then got off the bicycle and climbed over a chain link fence near a residence in an alley. Officers instructed the subject to stop.

Police say the subject reached for a handgun as officers tried to detain him and resisted arrest. During the incident, police say the man bit an officer in the leg before detaining the man.

The man is identified as Richard Elzie Spears, 60, of Bowling Green.

During the investigation, police say they located suspected methamphetamine, marijuana, paraphernalia and knives on Spears.

According to a citation, Spears told officers he found the handgun next to a dumpster, and he had methamphetamine. Spears told police he did not know the location of the stolen items during the vehicle break-ins on Oct. 3. Police say Spears said the items may have been taken from him.

The Bowling Green Police Department said in an update on Tuesday that it received videos of a suspect stealing from unlocked vehicles the week of Sept. 25 along the area of Scottsville Road.

BGPD says the suspect in the videos appeared to fit the same description of the suspect stealing from unlocked vehicles on WKU’s campus. On Tuesday, police say Spears was located while trying to steal from a vehicle.

Spears was in possession of a firearm that has since been confirmed to belong to a victim in an initial complaint to BGPD, police say.

Spears was taken into custody by the WKU Police Department and lodged in the Warren County Detention Center.

He faces additional charges from BGPD regarding multiple thefts from vehicles reported along Scottsville Road.

Spears is currently charged with first-degree fleeing or evading police,  possession of marijuana, first-degree possession of a controlled substance, second offense (methamphetamine), possession of a handgun by a convicted felon, third-degree assault -police officer or probation officer, drug paraphernalia – buy/possess, theft by unlawful taking or disposition of an automobile and resisting arrest. Spears was also served a warrant.

The investigation is ongoing. Bowling Green police say more charges are pending.

The several cases of thefts from vehicles that occurred on Oct. 6 are still actively being investigated separately, according to BGPD.