Police ID suspect accused of stealing police car, three vehicles; ending pursue with wreck in Norcross
A suspect crashed on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard on Thursday afternoon after allegedly stealing four vehicles and committing several hit-and-runs. (Photo: Gwinnett County Police)
A suspect crashed on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard on Thursday afternoon after allegedly stealing four vehicles and committing several hit-and-runs. (Photo: Gwinnett County Police)
A suspect crashed on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard on Thursday afternoon after allegedly stealing four vehicles and committing several hit-and-runs. (Photo: Gwinnett County Police)
The pursue involved several stolen vehicles and hit-and-run accidents, according to police. (Photo: Fox5 Atlanta)
Gwinnett County police have released the identity of the man accused of stealing a police car and three other vehicles, committing several hit-and-runs and, ultimately, crashing on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Norcross following a police pursue on Thursday.
Joshua Scott Jones, 28, was still in Gwinnett Medical Center as of Friday afternoon, tho’ Cpl. Michele Pihera said he would likely be transferred to Gwinnett County jail at some point later that day.
Update: The suspect was cuffed in the back and placed in backseat of patrol car. He moved arms forward, squeezed through cell window pic.twitter.com/LIfsmwRaRV
Jones’ police pursue began when a Gwinnett County police officer responded to a hit-and-run at Jimmy Carter Boulevard and Britt Road in unincorporated Norcross about 1:15 p.m. The suspect was driving a box truck, which police later realized had been stolen from a QuikTrip at two thousand forty Beaver Ruin Road in unincorporated Norcross.
“The driver of the box truck parked his vehicle in the back of the business,” Pihera said. “He left the vehicle running and the doors unlocked while he took products inwards the convenience store. When the driver came back to his truck, he found it missing.”
After his initial hit and run in the stolen box truck, Jones allegedly fled the scene, driving toward DeKalb County. But one of the witnesses of the hit-and-run was following the box truck, calling updates in to Gwinnett County police.
“There were reports that the suspect was striking other vehicles as he was fleeing,” Pihera said.
About 1:26 p.m., two witnesses managed to catch Jones at South Royal Atlanta Drive near Mountain Industrial Boulevard. They pinned him on the ground until an officer arrived.
From there, it seemed like a standard arrest. The officer cuffed the Jones’ mitts behind his back and sat him in the back seat of the patrol car. Upon further investigation, the officer found out that the suspect was dreamed in Forsyth County.
According to police, the suspect squeezed through the window of the prisoner cell which the say is about 12″ x 12″. (Photo: Gwinnett Police)
That’s where the arrest’s normalcy ended. As the officer was walking back to his patrol car, he allegedly witnessed that Jones had somehow maneuvered his mitts to his front and squeezed through the 12-inch-by-12-inch window separating the back of the car from the front.
“The suspect leaped into the driver’s seat and drove off with the patrol car at 1:57 p.m.,” Pihera said.
Gwinnett Police’s dispatch monitored the stolen patrol car and gave officers real-time updates on its location, but by the time they caught up to it at a nearby golf course, Heritage Golf Links, about Two:06 p.m., Jones was gone. Witnesses told officers he’d stolen a Ford F-150 pickup truck from the maintenance building.
Jones then allegedly drove the F-150 to a Taco Bell on Jimmy Carter Boulevard where he left it before stealing a blue and silver pickup truck.
“After stealing the pickup truck, he fled to the north into the city of Duluth,” Pihera said. “It was reported that he committed several hit-and-runs in the Walmart parking lot on Pleasant Hill Road before traveling back southbound on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.”
The proprietor of the stolen pickup truck had left an electronic device in his truck and was able to update officers on the suspect’s location.
At the same time, officers were searching both on the ground and by air via helicopter. Then an officer caught up to Jones just south of Technology Parkway South on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. He performed a pursuit intervention technology on the blue and silver pickup truck.
“The truck swerved and eventually flipped onto its side in the median at about Two:36 p.m.,” Pihera said. “The officers instantaneously called for an ambulance.”
Through all of this, Jones was still cuffed. He was also conscious and alert when a police officer escorted him to Gwinnett Medical Center.
Police believe Jones committed anywhere from six to eight hit-and-runs and stole four vehicles. A total of four patrol cars were bruised during the pursue.
“Once the suspect is discharged from the hospital, he will face numerous charges for hit-and-run and stealing motor vehicles,” Pihera said.
Both the box truck and the F150 were returned to their owners.