The driver who fled during a traffic stop Thursday in Cornelia was behind the wheel of a vehicle that may have been involved in recent thefts in the county, officials say. The male driver ran away on foot after a deputy pulled him over near McDonald’s on the U.S. 441 Bypass.
“The vehicle had been identified as possibly being involved in trailer thefts in our county and the known driver has active parole warrants,” says Habersham County Sheriff’s Capt. Floyd Canup. He did not say why the driver was on parole.
The driver ran across the highway into the woods behind the nearby Ingles grocery store in Cornelia. That set off a search that set off a frenzy on social media after word started circulating the store had been robbed. It was not.
Law enforcement officers pursued the driver on foot but were unable to locate him. The sheriff’s office brought in a K-9 unit to track him but the dog lost the track. Deputies ended the search without locating him.
Cornelia and Baldwin police helped with the search. “Nobody at Ingles was in danger at any time,” says Assistant Cornelia Police Chief Jonathan Roberts, adding there was no reason to lock down the store because there was no public threat.
Captain Canup says the investigation is ongoing.
