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Suspect sought after Berk survives kidnapping nightmare
By George Schwarz
george.schwarz@amarillo.com
Dr. Steven Berk; "He put his gun to my face and said he would kill me if I didn't cooperate."
AMARILLO
It took Dr. Steven Berk two hours to survive the often unsurvivable.
Berk, the regional dean at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Amarillo, was kidnapped at gunpoint at 9:15 a.m. Sunday from his Puckett neighborhood home.
He spent the next two hours riding around Potter and Randall counties with an angry and agitated criminal.
Berk, also an internal medicine specialist, said his medical experience kept him calm and in control. It also might have saved him from a far worse fate.
"Being calm is what we do," Berk said, adding there was no advantage to getting panicky.
Otherwise, the story might have ended differently.
A warrant for the arrest of Jack Lindsey Jordan, 41. The warrant was for aggravated kidnapping in connection with the episode. Jordan also has a outstanding warrant for a parole violation from Texas State Pardons and Paroles, according to a news release from the Amarillo Police Department.
Jordan is from the Lubbock area, said APD Cpl. Brian Thomas.
Berk, 55, spoke openly about the kidnapping Monday, giving away his stress only with the continual wringing of his hands as he sat on a comfortable couch in the family room of his home on Southpark Drive.
Berk said he was working on a paper on his computer in his study.
"He just walked up and put the gun to my face and said he would kill me if I didn't cooperate," Berk said in a hushed voice.
With the gun shoved in his back, Berk and the kidnapper went into the room where his son was. Berk told him to act normally, and the teen left for church.
The suspect took cash from Berk's wallet, but it wasn't enough.
The kidnapper had pulled his white SUV into the Berks' open garage. He insisted that Berk drive that vehicle to an ATM. Berk told the kidnapper that he doesn't use ATMs and didn't have a PIN, a number used to access cash from an account.
"Anyway, we were driving, driving around to find an ATM," Berk said. "We found a couple, but not the ones that he wanted. He wanted one where nobody was."
Berk convinced the kidnapper he didn't have a PIN. The suspect then insisted they get gas, but when partially through filling the tank, something "spooked" him and they drove off.
The criminal also looked through Berk's wallet and, learning Berk was a physician, insisted on getting some drugs.
After convincing the kidnapper that he had no way of getting drugs, the kidnapper demanded they return to the house.
"The house was probably chosen because the garage door was left up. ...The garage door was unsecured, and that's why that place was chosen. As usual, it was a crime of opportunity."
"I pleaded with him not to do that," Berk said.
His wife would have been home by that time, and the criminal wanted jewelry and money from her wallet.
"He said he'd stay right out there, he'd give me one minute and if I didn't do it he would come in and kill us," Berk said.
Berk complied with those orders. They returned to the SUV and eventually the kidnapper decided to let Berk off in Bushland.
But, Berk said, he could see the car's vehicle identification number (VIN) on the windshield sticker. Along the way, he memorized it.
"As soon as I gave it to the police, they knew who this guy was," Berk said.
When he let Berk off, the suspect said, "You didn't get hurt. If you just forget this, you'll be fine. If you call the police, I'm going to come and kill everybody in your house."
Berk said that gave him pause, but in the end he called police.
The incident has prompted Berk to think seriously about getting a gun, although he never before had considered owning a gun and had always backed gun control.
"The one thing I want to do today is get a gun," Berk said. "Not so much for a future robbery, but for this particular individual if he were to come here, because the interesting thing you think about was the difference between him and me ... he's got a gun and I don't."
It might not have made much difference, Berk said, because "that gun was in my face before I heard anything, and then I saw this jittery guy whose face I'd never seen before."
At each point where the kidnapper was thwarted - at the ATM, the gas station and during the discussion of drugs - the suspect became agitated and angry.
Berk said he was surprised at what happened after the suspect dropped him off in Bushland.
Berk jogged a quarter-mile to a main road and tried to flag down cars.
About 10-15 cars went by him before a woman stopped and offered him her cell phone to call authorities.
Berk said the only time he was scared was in the first minute or so when the suspect confronted him.
"I felt that if this guy was boxed into a corner, he would be very, very violent," Berk said.
Sgt. Randy TenBrink of the Amarillo Police Department said the suspect "was just looking for a place to light."
"The house was probably chosen because the garage door was left up," TenBrink said. "...The garage door was unsecured, and that's why that place was chosen. As usual, it was a crime of opportunity."
Berk said the lesson is keep your doors locked - and there are dangerous people in the world.
*****************************************************
This happened Sunday to a Liberal Now Turned Conservative. The BG dropped the good doctor off just west of my house. Intresting how the Good Doctor's Opinion of Guns has changed since it's his and his family's life that is on the line. It also shows what can happen when you don't secure your home, even during the day time when you're there. Intresting, very intresting to me.
Jungle Work
By George Schwarz
george.schwarz@amarillo.com
Dr. Steven Berk; "He put his gun to my face and said he would kill me if I didn't cooperate."
AMARILLO
It took Dr. Steven Berk two hours to survive the often unsurvivable.
Berk, the regional dean at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Amarillo, was kidnapped at gunpoint at 9:15 a.m. Sunday from his Puckett neighborhood home.
He spent the next two hours riding around Potter and Randall counties with an angry and agitated criminal.
Berk, also an internal medicine specialist, said his medical experience kept him calm and in control. It also might have saved him from a far worse fate.
"Being calm is what we do," Berk said, adding there was no advantage to getting panicky.
Otherwise, the story might have ended differently.
A warrant for the arrest of Jack Lindsey Jordan, 41. The warrant was for aggravated kidnapping in connection with the episode. Jordan also has a outstanding warrant for a parole violation from Texas State Pardons and Paroles, according to a news release from the Amarillo Police Department.
Jordan is from the Lubbock area, said APD Cpl. Brian Thomas.
Berk, 55, spoke openly about the kidnapping Monday, giving away his stress only with the continual wringing of his hands as he sat on a comfortable couch in the family room of his home on Southpark Drive.
Berk said he was working on a paper on his computer in his study.
"He just walked up and put the gun to my face and said he would kill me if I didn't cooperate," Berk said in a hushed voice.
With the gun shoved in his back, Berk and the kidnapper went into the room where his son was. Berk told him to act normally, and the teen left for church.
The suspect took cash from Berk's wallet, but it wasn't enough.
The kidnapper had pulled his white SUV into the Berks' open garage. He insisted that Berk drive that vehicle to an ATM. Berk told the kidnapper that he doesn't use ATMs and didn't have a PIN, a number used to access cash from an account.
"Anyway, we were driving, driving around to find an ATM," Berk said. "We found a couple, but not the ones that he wanted. He wanted one where nobody was."
Berk convinced the kidnapper he didn't have a PIN. The suspect then insisted they get gas, but when partially through filling the tank, something "spooked" him and they drove off.
The criminal also looked through Berk's wallet and, learning Berk was a physician, insisted on getting some drugs.
After convincing the kidnapper that he had no way of getting drugs, the kidnapper demanded they return to the house.
"The house was probably chosen because the garage door was left up. ...The garage door was unsecured, and that's why that place was chosen. As usual, it was a crime of opportunity."
"I pleaded with him not to do that," Berk said.
His wife would have been home by that time, and the criminal wanted jewelry and money from her wallet.
"He said he'd stay right out there, he'd give me one minute and if I didn't do it he would come in and kill us," Berk said.
Berk complied with those orders. They returned to the SUV and eventually the kidnapper decided to let Berk off in Bushland.
But, Berk said, he could see the car's vehicle identification number (VIN) on the windshield sticker. Along the way, he memorized it.
"As soon as I gave it to the police, they knew who this guy was," Berk said.
When he let Berk off, the suspect said, "You didn't get hurt. If you just forget this, you'll be fine. If you call the police, I'm going to come and kill everybody in your house."
Berk said that gave him pause, but in the end he called police.
The incident has prompted Berk to think seriously about getting a gun, although he never before had considered owning a gun and had always backed gun control.
"The one thing I want to do today is get a gun," Berk said. "Not so much for a future robbery, but for this particular individual if he were to come here, because the interesting thing you think about was the difference between him and me ... he's got a gun and I don't."
It might not have made much difference, Berk said, because "that gun was in my face before I heard anything, and then I saw this jittery guy whose face I'd never seen before."
At each point where the kidnapper was thwarted - at the ATM, the gas station and during the discussion of drugs - the suspect became agitated and angry.
Berk said he was surprised at what happened after the suspect dropped him off in Bushland.
Berk jogged a quarter-mile to a main road and tried to flag down cars.
About 10-15 cars went by him before a woman stopped and offered him her cell phone to call authorities.
Berk said the only time he was scared was in the first minute or so when the suspect confronted him.
"I felt that if this guy was boxed into a corner, he would be very, very violent," Berk said.
Sgt. Randy TenBrink of the Amarillo Police Department said the suspect "was just looking for a place to light."
"The house was probably chosen because the garage door was left up," TenBrink said. "...The garage door was unsecured, and that's why that place was chosen. As usual, it was a crime of opportunity."
Berk said the lesson is keep your doors locked - and there are dangerous people in the world.
*****************************************************
This happened Sunday to a Liberal Now Turned Conservative. The BG dropped the good doctor off just west of my house. Intresting how the Good Doctor's Opinion of Guns has changed since it's his and his family's life that is on the line. It also shows what can happen when you don't secure your home, even during the day time when you're there. Intresting, very intresting to me.
Jungle Work