Editor’s Note: from time to time we’ll catch one of Jim Cavanaugh’s “War Stories” shared on social media. His tales from days serving in law enforcement are too good to miss, and he has agreed to allow us to share them with Brownwood News readers.
Written by Jim Cavanaugh – One of my friends from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and later the State’s Attorney’s Office reminded me of another caper that was fun… and turned exciting.
Another agent had some fugitives he was hunting in our area that were wanted in Louisiana. He had discovered they were working at the Palm Beach County Fair in the carnival area.
The Sheriff’s Office provided security there and had lots of sources to pinpoint where the three idiots were working: turned out to be at the haunted house attraction.
A whole group of agents and deputies converged on the midway to locate them. One was a piece of cake. He was taking tickets outside the haunted house. A second one walked out as we were approaching to arrest #1.
This fool ran back inside the haunted house and was chased by me, Ted, and a couple of others. It was pitch black inside and we were all trying to feel our way along while looking for this idiot. Someone from the Sheriff’s Office (much smarter than I) looked for the light switch as we heard a chainsaw being started.
Not a pleasant sound in the dark.
When the lights went on, there was the fool, standing about 20 feet away with the chainsaw in his hand as he pulled on the cord to get it started. He succeeded just about the time the lights came on. We were standing there pointing our weapons directly at him, deciding whether or not to shoot him when we noticed he had no chain on the saw.
We pointed out this minor error with his planned escape and he surrendered peacefully.
We went from being totally scared ****less to laughing at him.
Jim Cavanaugh
Justice of the Peace for Precinct 4 in Brown County, Texas
Jim Cavanaugh graduated from Lamar Tech in Beaumont in 1967, and participated in post-graduate studies at Sam Houston, South Texas College of Law, and the University of Virginia.
Cavanaugh was a Texas police officer before joining the FBI under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover in 1971 through 1996. He served as a contractor for the Bureau and a number of Federal Agencies post 9/11.
Jim Cavanaugh has served as the Justice of the Peace for Precinct 4 in Brown County since 2007.
