Police say Thomas James Stephens was arrested in Duluth last week on a drunken driving charge. They say he wound up stealing the arresting officer’s patrol car and abandoned it in DeKalb County.
Duluth police spokesman Maj. Don Woodruff says that after the car was located, police used fingerprints to identify Stephens. They say he was driving in Decatur when police stopped him.
Woodruff says Stephens also is likely to be charged for taking an assault rifle from the car.
Woodruff says Stephens is being held by U.S. Marshals in a federal facility in Atlanta because of the theft of the rifle.
Information posted Sept. 1
DULUTH, Ga. (AP) — Officials are searching for a man who slipped out of his handcuffs and stole a Duluth police car after being arrested for DUI.
An officer stopped a U-Haul truck for a traffic violation Monday evening.
Duluth Maj. Don Woodruff said the officer realized the driver was intoxicated, put on handcuffs and put him in the backseat of the patrol car.
The officer went to search the U-Haul and his patrol car and the suspect were gone when he returned.
Woodruff said the man managed to slip one hand out of the cuffs and kick out the back window.
Dozens of officers from Duluth, DeKalb County and Atlanta searched the area and spotted the car. Woodruff said the suspect saw police, jumped out and fled.
Police said the U-Haul had been stolen.
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