A Mississippi Commercial Transportation Enforcement Division officer was recently honored by The Mississippi Pavement Association for his help in stopping a fleeing bank robber in October.

The release from MPA entitled “Asphalt Heroes” says that around 1 p.m. on Thursday, October 12, dispatchers at MHP Troop F sent a call out regarding a BOLO for a subject wanted by the FBI in connection to a bank robbery in Huntsville, Alabama. The suspect was identified as Scott Alan Tyner, 50, and he was believed to be traveling on I-20 west.

Lieutenant Mackiel Burcham with CTED was near Iuka when he noticed police chasing a vehicle that matched the description of Tyner’s. After a brief pursuit, Burcham was able to block his escape route.

As officers attempted to approach the stopped vehicle, Tyner rolled his window down, showing officers that he had a handgun and was threatening suicide. Burcham and some Tishomingo County deputies convinced Tyner to drop the gun and surrender.

Once Tyner lowered his weapon, Burcham and the assisting deputies were able to get the weapon and place Tyner in custody without further incident.

“If it weren’t for Burcham, the Tishomingo County Sheriff’s Department, and other assisting law enforcement, this situation could have ended differently and possibly with the loss of a life,” Asphalt Heroes readsC. “With the work of these law enforcement officers, a dangerous criminal was taken into custody and removed from the roads of Mississippi and no individual received any serious physical injury.”