Hours after arresting a man accused of driving a stolen vehicle from Dekalb, Habersham County law enforcement nabbed another suspected auto thief.
29-year-old Uriel Silva Martinez of Tucker was taken into custody following a brief pursuit on GA 365 Thursday morning. Deputies recovered the Ford F350 dually pickup truck he was driving. It was reported stolen from a Home Depot parking lot in Gwinnett County.
Authorities charged Martinez with theft by receiving a stolen vehicle, fleeing and attempting to elude, driving under the influence, failure to maintain lane, speeding, no license, open container, seatbelt violation, and obstruction.
Lookout led to arrest
A lookout was posted for the stolen vehicle which ultimately led to the arrest.
“Dispatch gave us a BOLO, which is Be On the Lookout, for a vehicle all over the roadway and at one point was in the wrong lane of travel,” on GA 365, says Habersham County Sheriff’s Sgt. Daniel Seeley. “I set up at 385 and 365, and as the vehicle went by, I paced the vehicle at 82 mph.”
Seeley says the vehicle was weaving within its lane. He initiated a traffic stop but says the driver did not acknowledge the lights or siren.
LISTEN: Sgt. Daniel Seeley interview
Habersham County Sheriff’s Office HEAT Sgt. Kris Hall assisted in attempting to stop the vehicle. According to Seeley, he and Hall boxed in the vehicle and got it to a stop. At that point, he says, “the vehicle accelerated heavily around Sgt. Hall and initiated pursuit.”
Brief pursuit
The pursuit lasted for about three minutes, running up Highway 365 northbound. The sheriff’s office says Hall performed a PIT maneuver to spin the truck at Jess Kinney Road just before Tom Arrendale Interchange.
Deputies took the driver into custody and transported him to the Habersham County Detention Center.
The PIT maneuver reportedly caused minor damage to the truck and minimal damage to Hall’s patrol vehicle. A trooper from Georgia State Patrol Post 7 in Toccoa is investigating that part of the incident.
Earlier in the day, deputies took another driver into custody after he fled on foot during a traffic stop. That led to an hours-long manhunt involving multiple law enforcement agencies. The suspect was arrested near the Hampton Inn in Cornelia.
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