Cops Chase Car, Find 20 Nude People
Associated Press --08/20/93
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Police in Vinton, La, were surprised when a driver wearing only
a towel got out of a car they stopped, then got back in and sped
off. They were dumbfounded when the car hit a tree and disgorged
20 people wearing nothing at all.
"The Lord told them to get rid of all their belongings and go to
Louisiana. So they got rid of all their clothes and pocketbooks
and wallets and identification and the license plate off their car
and came to our gorgeous state," Vinton Police Chief Dennis
Drouillard said.
All 20 were from Floydada, Texas, in the Texas Panhandle, about
550 miles from the southwest Louisiana town of Vinton. Drouillard
said he believed they all were related.
Driver Sammy Rodriguez and his brother, Danny, both said they were
Pentecostal preachers, Drouillard said.
Floydada Police Chief James Hale said he had been looking for the
Rodriguez family since Tuesday night, when relatives reported them
missing. "They made statements like the devil was after them and
Floydada was going to be destroyed if they stayed here," Hale said.
The family left in 5 or 6 cars, abandoning 1 in Lubbock and a second
in San Angelo. Police found a thrid in Galveston, along with the
family's clothes, pocketbooks, wallets and other belongings.
The chase in Vinton began after a campground owner called police. A
Calcasieu Parish deputy stopped their car, and a man wearing only a
towel got out.
"When the officer went to ask what was going on, he jumped back in
and took off," Drouillard said. They sped down Vinton's main street
until the car hit a tree at the baseball park at the end of town.
Fifteen adults, as old as age 63, and 5 children, piled out of
the 1990 Pontiac Grand Am.
"And they were completely nude. All 20 of them. Didn't have a stitch
of clothes on. I mean, no socks, no underwear, no nothin'. Five of
them [the children] were in the trunk," Drouillard said.
The car was totaled, but the injuries all were minor, Drouillard
said.
Rodriguez was booked with reckless driving, flight from an officer,
property damage and several minor traffic violations.
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