Suspicious activity outside a local elementary school late Tuesday night led police to arrest a fugitive from Tennessee.
Cornelia police took 29-year-old George Joshua Harrison of Elizabethton, Tennessee, into custody outside Cornelia Elementary School on September 12. He was sitting in a parked car with a woman and child while another man worked on the car tire, police said.
When a Cornelia Police Officer approached the vehicle shortly before 10 p.m., he said Harrison told him they were trying to fix a “mechanical issue.” The officer said he smelled marijuana and asked for Harrison’s ID, as well as those of the two other adults, identified as Josh Wells and Haley Miller. Miller had her 1-year-old son with her, police said.
The background check showed Harrison was wanted on a felony probation warrant.
According to the incident report, Harrison admitted to the Cornelia police officer he was smoking marijuana earlier in the day. While searching the vehicle, a second officer on the scene reportedly found marijuana and a Smith and Wesson .380 pistol with a loaded chamber.
Also inside the car, police said they found a tray with marijuana residue, a rubber container with suspected THC wax, a Hookah with methamphetamine inside of it, several bags with the names, “Josh” “Josh” and “Own” on them, two scales, and a grinder.
Escape
As the first officer cuffed Harrison, he said Harrison began “to dig with his hands in the back of his pants,” as if he were hiding something. As the policeman walked Harrison to his patrol car, the handcuffed suspect took off running toward the road.
“I yelled ‘No!’ and began to pursue him on foot,” Cornelia Police Officer Aaron Spivey wrote in his report. “George appeared to be creating distance between me and him and I pulled my taser. I acquired a shot once George was in grass and as I was pulling the trigger, George fell to the ground and rolled.”
The taser caught Harrison below the right eye. He fell, then got back up and continued running.
As Harrison headed for the car where the loaded gun was, Spivey said he fired another taser round, striking Harrison in the “back and the buttocks area.”
“George had a near complete NMI (neuromuscular incapacitation) and fell to the ground landing hard on his shoulder, elbow, and chin,” Spivey reported.
The officers on the scene secured Harrison and provided first aid. They requested an ambulance which later took the injured suspect to the hospital.
Harrison was booked at the Habersham County Detention Center early Wednesday morning. Police charged him with three felonies including escape, possession of meth, and being a fugitive from justice. They also charged him with two misdemeanors for marijuana possession and obstructing law enforcement officers.
According to the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office, Harrison was wanted in Tennessee for a probation violation on an “unknown original charge” and a probation violation on misdemeanor charges.
As of late Wednesday morning, September 13, Harrison remained in jail. Charges have not been filed against Wells or Miller.
