March 22
Harassing text messages
A Guyton couple said the woman’s brother had been sending threatening text messages, including one that said he would be on his way to their house and they could “settle everything.” The husband said the messages started from a social media exchange between his wife and her mother. The man wanted a report in case more incidents occur.
March 22
Theft by taking (other)
A Springfield man said someone had taken his dog from his yard. The dog was in the yard when the man went to bed but was gone the next morning, and there were no signs the dog extricated itself from the yard. Dispatch notified the deputy a dog matching the description had been taken to the animal shelter because of a car chase. The complainant was notified where to go to identify the dog.
March 22
Wanted person - warrant service
Failure to have license on person
Failure to obey stop sign
A deputy was on patrol in Westwood Heights when he saw a driver run a stop sign. During the traffic stop, the deputy noticed the driver shaking constantly and sweating. The driver said he left his wallet at home and did not have his license. He gave his name and date of birth, and a check by dispatch revealed the driver was wanted for probation violation. The vehicle was released to its registered owner, and the driver was taken to jail.
March 22
Agency assist
Responding to a call in Guyton, a deputy found a vehicle on fire in a driveway. Guyton Fire Department secured the scene, and the driver said he would call the Guyton Police the next day to follow up with a report, as the same thing had happened not too long ago.
March 21
Traffic complaint violation
A deputy pulled over a driver on Jabez Jones Road because she continued to ride on the center line. The driver, who said she was coming from her mother’s in Savannah, said she didn’t think she was on the center line. The driver said she was just tired and been drinking only water. The deputy noticed slurred speech and an odor of alcohol, and the driver admitted to having one drink. The driver then failed to complete several field sobriety tests.
March 21
DUI
Deputies were called to Old Augusta Road, where a vehicle was in a ditch and the driver had fled on foot. A witness said he spoke with the driver, who said he was taking the keys home so he did not get into trouble. The witness said the driver smelled of alcohol. A deputy found the driver and brought him back to the crash scene. When asked what happened to cause the vehicle to roll onto its side, the driver said, “I don’t want to say anything to incriminate myself.” The driver said he had been drinking at home and went for a walk. He also refused a roadside field test. He later agreed to a breathalyzer and registered a .136 and a .134 blood alcohol content.
March 21
Criminal trespass
Deputies went to a Rincon-area home after receiving a call about someone possibly entering an auto. A woman said she was on her back porch when she heard her car door shut, and she knew it was not her husband because he was asleep. She said nothing was missing from the vehicle but she wanted a report to document the incident.
March 21
Damaged property
A deputy responding to the possible auto break-in above was flagged down by a neighbor, who said someone cut her tire with a knife. The deputy saw a small cut on the back left tire of the vehicle consistent with a knife blade. The complainant said she wanted the incident documented in case the two reports are related.
March 21
Harassment by phone
Deputies were called to a Rincon residence where a woman said her ex-boyfriend violated conditions of his bond. He had been arrested the day before for breaking her phone during an argument. Under his bond, he was to have no contact with her until after the court date. The victim said that around 10:20 that night she was on a phone provided to her by Victim Witness talking to her children, who were staying at her mother’s house. Her ex-boyfriend then got on the phone and started arguing with her. She hung up and called the ECSO.
March 21
Traffic complaint/violation
A deputy stopped a pickup on Clyo-Kildare Road for an inoperable brake light and a seat belt violation. The driver pulled in behind a house and got out of the truck limping. He said he was bringing buckets to a friend at that house. The deputy noticed the driver’s face was flushed and his speech was slurred. The driver said he had consumed one beer and did not have his wallet, though the deputy could see a wallet in his back pocket. He told the deputy he kept his driver’s license in another wallet and had a paper copy of his license in this wallet. The license he produced turned out to be suspended for several violations.
The deputy also told the driver he was going to check his eyes and not to light his cigarette. The driver lit his cigarette anyway as the deputy went to turn off his warning lights. The driver failed elements of the field sobriety test, though some could not be administered because of his apparent injury. The deputy went to retrieve his portable breath test kit, and the driver again lit a cigarette, with the deputy instructing him again to extinguish it. The breath kit test results were positive for alcohol.
The driver was told he was going to be arrested and he asked to go home because he was on probation and could not get a bond. He also asked to be allowed to call his father. The deputy told the driver he needed to place his hands in front of him because the officer was going to place the handcuffs in front because of his leg injury. The driver ignored the command and lit another cigarette. The offender was told to calm down and he said he was “really fixing to get upset.”
The deputy retrieved the driver’s phone from the truck and gave it to him to call his father. He told his father he had been arrested. During the call, he called the deputy an obscenity and disputed the reasoning for the traffic stop. He was instructed several times to end the phone call but continued to ignore the deputy’s command. He later told the deputy he did not care about his rights. His father eventually arrived to take possession of the truck, which was not registered and did not have insurance.
March 20
Theft by taking - misdemeanor
A Meldrim man said he left his tool bag on the porch for several days and noticed it was gone. He provided deputies the names of two people of interest. One of the people allowed deputies to search his residence, and none of items listed as stolen were discovered.
March 20
Hit-and-run
Deputies responded to a scene outside of Springfield where a man said he was traveling eastbound on Mock Road when a pickup in the other lane hit his driver’s side mirror. He said he followed the pickup to Highway 119 but was unable to get a license plate number.
March 20
Reckless driving
Deputies were called to a store on Highway 80, where a Bryan County deputy was on scene and advising that a woman was trying to kill her kids. The woman was in custody and was shouting that she wanted to talk to her babies’ daddy. She also had a strong odor of alcohol. A Bryan County deputy said he got behind her on I-16, and she was driving recklessly back and forth in both lanes. She reached 80 mph and slammed on the brakes, causing one of her children to fly into the front seat. Other witnesses confirmed the Bryan County deputy’s account and said she was driving on the wrong side of the road when she got to Old River Road. When she pulled into the store, they blocked her in and she fought with deputies after she got out of the car.
Inside the car were two boys, ages 3 to 5, and a 6-month-old girl. A search of her car turned up two 25-ounce Bud Light Strawberritas and two unopened cold 24-ounce beers. Her sister and her boyfriend were called to pick up the children.
The driver was charged with DUI, three counts of endangering a child under 14 while DUI, reckless driving, driving in violation of a limited DUI permit and for having an open container of alcohol.
March 20
Domestic dispute
A woman told deputies she and her husband got into an argument, and he held her to the floor and yelled at her. She said her husband left for the night and was staying with his parents or his brother. She also said she had oral surgery recently and has been in a very bad mood because she doesn’t take the pain medication. She admitted she has been hard to live with lately and she caused the argument. She also said everything was settled and no further action was needed from the ECSO.
March 19
Agency assist
Deputies went to a Rincon residence at the Chatham County special victims unit’s request about a missing person. The person was listed as missing from Chatham and also listed in the NCIC as missing. The person in question answered the door and was informed he had been listed as missing. Chatham County was notified of the contact.
March 19
Agency assist
A female deputy was dispatched to Lowe’s in Rincon to conduct a search of a woman. Drugs had been found in her car, but the deputy’s search of the woman turned up no more illicit material.
March 19
Criminal trespass
A woman said her son, whom she does not want on her property because of past problems, knocked on her door. The son was told of the mother’s wishes for a criminal trespass notice. He said he only wanted to tell his mother that he loved her.
March 19
Criminal trespass
A man said two people who had been banned from his property last year through a court order were at his home. The complainant was not home at the time of the call and could not provide documentation of the court order. Deputies spoke with the complainant’s son at the house, who said the two men, one of whom was his brother, had been at the house earlier that day to see their mother. The banned brother lived next door, and he told deputies he only went to the house to give his brother cigarettes and to eat cereal.
March 19
Information report
A man told deputies he feared for his son’s safety because of another person telling mutual friends he had a gun and was going to kill his son for having his brother locked up. Deputies spoke with the son, and he said he heard through friends that another man was out to kill him and a girl because of an incident.
March 19
Damaged property
Deputies responded to a call from a woman who said her car had been damaged two days earlier. She was driving on Goshen Road when another car pulled out and hit the right front of her vehicle. The drivers pulled off the road and said they would exchange information, but the complainant had not been able to reach the other driver. She said she did not make a report at the time of the accident because she didn’t want to be late for work.
March 18
Medical call
A worker at a veterinary clinic told deputies she was attempting to trim the nails of a dog when it lunged at her and bit her on the thigh. The owner pulled the dog back. Deputies saw tearing on the employee’s pants consistent with a dog bite, and the worker said the bite broke the skin. The dog’s owner said she did not believe her dog bit the woman and she was lying about what happened, adding the tear on the pants was probably already there and was the result of an ink pen. She also said the dog’s vaccinations were up-to-date but a check showed the last rabies vaccination had been one year earlier. The dog was taken to the animal shelter for a 10-day quarantine on the owner’s request.
March 17
Agency assist
Effingham deputies were working off-duty as support for the St. Patrick’s Day events on River Street, maintaining security around the dock for the ferry. They were talking with a Chatham County deputy when they heard a woman scream. They saw a young woman about 30 feet away on the ground with an older woman standing next to her, yelling for a man to stop and come back. The Chatham deputy ran after the man, with the two Effingham deputies following.
When Effingham deputies, after making their way through the crowd, caught up to the Chatham deputy, he was attempting to subdue a man near the guard rail, which is low and offers little obstruction between the sidewalk and the river. It became apparent the man was trying to elude officers by jumping into the Savannah River and he moved toward the guard rail, taking two deputies with him. The elevated water level and the sidewalk’s construction has resulted in people being pulled under the sidewalk by the current.
An Effingham deputy reached for his taser and placed it on the man’s back. However, half of the suspect’s body was hanging over the guard rail and over the water. The suspect also used his free hand to push himself away from the guard rail and closer to the water. Deciding that the taser could send the man into the water, the deputy re-holstered it.
The deputy grabbed the suspect by the back of his collar and waistband, lifting him back up and toward the sidewalk. The suspect and the other two deputies, who were still attempting to pull him away from the guard rail, fell back onto the sidewalk. The Chatham deputy was knocked unconscious by the fall. The suspect began to move back to his feet but an Effingham deputy got on top of him and the deputy asked an onlooker to get the attention of nearby Savannah-Chatham Metro Police officers for possible assistance. The two Effingham deputies rolled the man over and handcuffed him.
An onlooker who said she was a nurse attended to the Chatham deputy, who regained consciousness and spoke clearly. Moments later, several other law enforcement officers arrived and said medical help was coming. An Effingham deputy told a SCMPD officer about the young woman he saw on the ground and asked that he ID her as a possible assault victim.
The Chatham deputy was taken to a hospital, and the subject’s intoxication became clearer as he appeared lethargic and in a drunken stupor. The woman who was knocked to the ground said the suspect approached her, grabbed her, lifted her and threw her to the ground. She said she had never seen him before and they had not exchanged words prior to the incident.
March 17
Financial transaction card fraud
A deputy went to the Rincon Police Department on the report of a possible fraud. A woman said someone had used her temporary debit card without her permission at four different locations, including a Savannah hotel. She got in touch with the hotel, who told her a man, who happened to be her ex-boyfriend, used the card there. She said her card was not swiped but the card number was used and added he has never had permission to use her card. She also said someone had taken out a credit card and cell phone account in her name, but her phone is with another carrier.
March 17
Fraudulent telephone solicitation
A man said he got a call from someone claiming to be from the Publishers Clearinghouse and that the complainant was the winner of a $60,000 prize. The caller asked the man to go to a moneygram machine and put in his information in order to claim his prize. The complainant thought it might be a scam and disconnected the phone call.
March 17
Found property
While on patrol on Blue Jay Road, a deputy saw a green lawnmower in the southbound lane at the intersection of Sandhill Road and Blue Jay. The deputy pushed it out of the road and checked with nearby residents, but it did not belong to any of them. The duty sergeant was called, and the lawnmower was picked up and turned over to the impound lot.
March 17
Criminal trespass
A Guyton-area man told deputies he was on his front porch when a pickup came speeding through the neighborhood. He yelled at the driver to slow down, and the truck squealed the tires, circled the cul-de-sac and came to a stop at the side of his yard. The driver got out of the truck and went to confront the complainant. After the driver refused to leave the yard and get away from the man, he punched the complainant in the face. A woman at the scene said she tried to separate the men, and the driver, whom she did not know, grabbed her by the wrist before leaving. Another neighbor recorded the license plate of the pickup and turned it over to deputies.
March 17
Harassing phone calls
A woman told deputies that another woman is sending her messages and voicemails and posting negative things about her on social media outlets. The complainant said it started about three years ago because the offender did not like her mother, who was pregnant at the time. The complainant said the offender had posted on social media that she was going to “(expletive) slap her if she sees her,” and the offender leaves multiple voice messages on her cell phone. The complainant said she has been to court once on this issue and wanted this incident documented in case the other woman came to her house.
March 17
Agency assist
Deputies aided a Guyton officer, who needed help trying to catch two vehicles speeding on Highway 119. While en route, deputies were told by dispatch that one male ran from the location. Deputies took one male to the jail for booking.
March 16
Damaged property
A deputy responded to a Guyton address, where a man said he was burning trash in the backyard and the fire got away from him. He called 911 after noticing it was too much for him to handle, and that the fire destroyed his shed. His neighbors also said their backyard fences were damaged by the spreading fire. The man was issued two county summons for residential burning and not having a permit to burn.
March 16
Theft by taking - felony
Deputies were called to Old Augusta Road South, where a man said his motorcycle had been stolen. The complainant said his motorcycle was having mechanical problems, so he parked it off the road. He arranged for a ride back to his pickup and went to get a trailer to take his motorcycle. When he passed back by his bike, it was still there. When he returned with the trailer, his bike was gone. He had locked the steering column, but it had been cut off and discarded. The victim gave deputies a copy of his insurance card, which also had the motorcycle’s vehicle identification number.
March 13
Traffic complaint/violation
A deputy was on patrol on Highway 21 when a gold Nissan Pathfinder with an inoperable tag light passed. The deputy conducted a traffic stop, and before the vehicle came to a stop, the driver threw a white and red, medium-sized bag out of the passenger side window. As the deputy got out of his car, the driver hit the gas and took off.
The deputy informed dispatch, and the chase ensued at high speeds into Port Wentworth. The deputy informed Savannah-Chatham Metro dispatch about the pursuit. Port Wenworth police were occupied with an incident but said they would try to put down spike strips at Highway 21 in front of Rice Creek subdivision. By the time the pursuit reached that spot, the officers were still trying to set up the spike strips.
The chase continued, and the deputy alerted Garden City to stand by. The driver continued to throw items from his window. Garden City police blocked off the major intersections, since the driver had run the red light at Highways 21 and 307.
Once out of Garden City, the driver got off on Highway 80 and headed into Savannah. The deputy notified Effingham and Chatham dispatch about the route of the chase, and he saw Georgia State Patrol troopers on I-516 trying to catch up to them. The vehicle continued on Highway 80 onto Bay Street, and the driver made a right turn onto East Lathrop Street and a left onto Stiles Avenue. At this point, the deputy, unfamiliar with the streets in this area of Savannah, slowed down. They crossed over Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, and the driver almost ran into another vehicle as he went through a red light. GSP informed the deputy they could see his lights but were still behind him.
The driver then turned down an alley leading to Live Oak Street downtown, going the wrong way down a one-way street. With the pursuit becoming more dangerous and more difficult to stay with the driver, the deputy told dispatch he was ending it.
Metro officers and other agencies searched for the suspect vehicle but did not find it. There also was no one home at the address listed with the vehicle. Officers also searched the areas where the driver had thrown items out of his vehicle, but the investigation did not turn up illegal drugs or weapons. A Rincon officer said the first bag thrown out of the vehicle possibly contained marijuana.
The vehicle and driver in question were apprehended later following a pursuit that ended March 21 at Highway 21 and I-95.
March 13
Hit-and-run
DUI - drugs
Duty of driver to stop or return to the scene of an accident
A deputy was called to Highway 80 about debris in the road. Upon arrival, the officer saw the traffic light at the Highway 17/80 intersection was flashing. There were pieces of the newly-replaced crosswalk control devices scattered throughout the road. A motorist stopped to help and told the deputy he did not know if it was related but three vehicles were on the side of Highway 17 a few miles north.
The deputy went up 17 to investigate and saw several people trying to change a car’s front right tire. The right-side wheel, fender, hood and bumper were damaged, consistent with a collision. A man there said the car belonged to his wife and a tire had blown.
The wife was in the back seat of another car on the scene, lying across the seat with her head in another woman’s lap. The deputy asked the second woman what happened but got no response. The woman instead tried to grab invisible items out of the air, touched her face and fell asleep. The man’s wife appeared to have a bruise on her forehead and was having a seizure. She also was twitching while making unintelligible noises. Neither female was able to answer any questions nor identify themselves.
The deputy asked the man what drugs the women were taking, since their behavior was not consistent with being under the influence of alcohol. He said he knew his wife took Xanax. He also said it was his wife who had been driving.
Another man, who had the car in which the two women were sitting, said he had been following the first car from downtown Savannah. He said the first woman was driving when he saw smoke coming from the car and the car was shaking. The deputy told him the crosswalk control device had been struck, but the man said he did not see the woman’s car hit it. The deputy questioned how he could not see the car hit two objects of that size. He said he had backed off to keep a safe distance since she began to speed and was driving erratically.
When EMS arrived, the two women still were incoherent. Both continued to mumble and reach for random things that did not exist. As a deputy collected information from the driver who followed the first car, dispatch reported his car was not insured. The deputy told him the car would have to remain parked until valid insurance coverage was obtained.
At the emergency room, the second woman began to come around and said they had been to a bar in downtown Savannah and had taken Ecstasy, but didn’t remember anything after that. The woman who had been driving was evaluated and released and arrested for driving under the influence. She still was unable to stand or walk on her own. While in the back of the patrol car, she fell asleep as the deputy read the implied consent notice to her. The deputy shook her arm to wake her, but the woman fell back asleep.
March 11
Obstructing or hindering a law enforcement officer
A deputy went to a Springfield home to conduct a home address verification of a registered sex offender. The deputy knocked and rang the doorbell but got no answer. As the deputy went around the house to see if the subject, who had been convicted previously of aggravated sodomy, was in the back yard, he noticed it appeared the back door was used more than the front door. Not finding the subject at home, the deputy left his business card, wrote “call me” on the back and left it in a conspicuous location.
Later that day, the responding deputy got a call from the duty sergeant, who said the subject wanted to file criminal trespass charges after finding the card. The deputy went back to the house and the subject approached him immediately. The deputy explained the purpose of his visit and requested to enter his residence to verify that was the subject’s home. The subject asked if the deputy had a warrant, and the deputy replied he did not, that he was there to verify his address and determine if he lived there. The subject refused to grant access to the residence. The deputy asked three times and received passive-aggressive non-responses. Taking the response as a non-verbal “no,” the deputy placed the subject in handcuffs and informed him he was under arrest for obstructing a peace officer.
