Seagoville Flashback: The Night a Multi Agency Manhunt Ended in a Flooded Field

SEAGOVILLE, TX

Some nights stick in a department’s memory longer than others. April 8, 2020 was one of those nights for Seagoville and Combine police, when a routine assist call turned into a sprawling, multi agency manhunt through a heavily wooded field that ended with a fugitive pulled out of standing water near a steep embankment.

According to the official Seagoville Police Department news release, the call came in around 11:20 PM. A Combine Police Department officer had encountered a known violent fugitive and attempted to make an arrest. Before backup could arrive, the situation escalated into a physical altercation. The officer deployed a Taser, but it failed to incapacitate the suspect, who broke away and disappeared into a dense wooded area along the 500 block of East Malloy Bridge Road.

Seagoville officers arrived and established a perimeter around the field, but containing a suspect in thick woods at night called for more than two departments could handle alone. The response that followed pulled in resources from across North Texas: the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Aircraft Operations Division, Mesquite Police Department K9 officers, Dallas County Sheriff’s Office deputies, and Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office deputies.

It was the aircraft overhead that ultimately found him. A TXDPS helicopter spotted the fugitive hiding in a body of water near a steep embankment and guided ground units to his exact location. Even cornered, he refused to comply with commands to surrender, forcing one Combine PD officer and one Seagoville PD officer to wade into the water to take him into custody.

The arrest did not go quietly. The release states the suspect intentionally struck the Seagoville officer in the face with a closed fist during the struggle to detain him. The officer sustained minor injuries and was treated and released at a local hospital. The suspect was evaluated at the scene by EMS before being taken into custody by Combine PD and transported to the Dallas County Jail.

He was identified as 27 year old Eddie Daryl Martinez of Combine. According to the release, he was held on charges of Aggravated Assault, Aggravated Kidnapping, Assault Family or Household Member by Impeding Breath, Assault on Public Servant, and Evading Arrest or Detention, with bonds set collectively at $1,001,500.

It is the kind of call that does not happen often in a town like Seagoville, and it is exactly the sort of story Seagoville Flashback exists to revisit. A single attempted arrest on East Malloy Bridge Road grew, within the span of a few hours, into a coordinated effort involving five separate law enforcement agencies, an aircraft, and a water rescue, all to bring one fugitive into custody safely.

This Seagoville Flashback is based on an official Seagoville Police Department news release dated April 9, 2020.