Oglethorpe prisoner flees throughout Athens in stolen sheriff's car

By Ben Deck
Staff Writer - 03/03/02

A prisoner being returned to the Oglethorpe County Jail after
sentencing in a Hart County court on a theft charge overpowered
a sheriffs deputy and commandeered his car Tuesday afternoon, 
the deputy said.

Gary Smith, 37, of an Atlanta address, was arrested Feb. 23 by
Oglethorpe County sheriff's deputies on a bench warrant. He
appeared in Superior Court Tuesday for a theft by taking charge,
and was sentenced to five years in prison and five years of
probation, and Oglethorpe County sheriff's Deputy Rollins Skelton,
whom Smith overpowered.

"I was carrying him back to the Oglethorpe County Jail," Skelton
said. "We got back into Lexington, and he asked to get a couple of
packs of cigarettes."

Skelton pulled into a Golden Pantry convenience store on Georgia
Highway 10 in Oglethorpe County, and allowed his prisoner to go into
the store. When Smith returned he got back in the front seat of the
1994 Chevrolet Caprice and grabbed for the deputy's .38-caliber
police-issue revolver, the deputy said.

"I really didn't think a whole lot about him (Smith) getting violent,"
Skelton said. "He didn't have a violent record."

The deputy and his prisoner struggled, and "we wound up somehow
in the back seat scuffling for the gun," Skelton said.

The deputy said he thinks the gun fired shortly before the scuffle
ended. No one was hit by a bullet, though.

Smith wrestled the gun from Skelton and took the Wheel of the white
Chevrolet Caprice, telling the deputy to stay in the back seat. 
Smith then demanded directions to Athens.

The captive-turned-captor drove quickly, but Skelton said he could
not tell the exact speed because the speedometer in the car was
broken.

Later in the journey, Smith was driving very recklessly - running
several other cars off the road, according to Skelton.

"He (Smith) said I'm not going to kill you - I'm not like that,"
Skelton said. But the deputy said he was more worried about Smith's
driving than his other intentions. "I thought he was going to kill
me (in an accident)," Skelton said.

Officers from the Athens-Clarke County Police Department and the
Clarke and Oglethorpe sheriff's offices chased the cruiser, and
once inside Clarke County, Smith turned off Lexington Road onto 
Gaines School Road and then onto Cedar Creek Drive.

When Smith reached the intersection of Cedar Creek Drive and 
Sandstone Drive, between Gaines School Road and Whit Davis Road,
Smith ordered him out of the car, Skelton said. The deputy went
to a nearby house and asked a resident to call police.

Smith continued in the stolen police cruiser to 120 Horseshoe
Circle, a residential street that intersects Sandstone Drive.
He parked the car in the carport of the house and fled on foot 
- apparently wearing Skelton's shoes, police said.

After fleeing on foot, Smith entered a nearby house and took
a man hostage, Clarke County Sheriff Jerry Massey said.

Smith did not have Skelton's gun at the time, having thrown 
the pistol out a car window while driving on Lexington Road, 
Massey said. An off-duty firefighter saw Smith throw the gun
away, and pointed it out to police, Massey added.

Smith gave up when faced by Clark and Walker. He was charged
with false imprisonment and burglary, and remained in the
Clarke County Jail Tuesday night with no bond set.

"He kind of surrendered when they had .40-caliber Glocks on
him," Massey said. "I am proud of my deputies - they got in
there and got him out."

In Oglethorpe County, Sheriff Ray Sanders said nothing like
the escape attempt Tuesday has ever happened in his 15-year
tenure. "We got a little lax," he added.

Sanders said Skelton, who was sheriff of Hart County before
losing an election and taking a job in Oglethorpe, will not
be reassigned. "He's a longtime lawman," Sanders said. "He
was doing his job."

Sanders said Skelton told him the prisoner rode in the front
seat of the car for the entire trip back from Hart County.
None of the sheriff's cars have barriers between the front
and back seats, Sanders added. "He (Smith) had all the
chances in the world to do something," Sanders said.

After hearing of the escape attempt, Sanders told his staff
members to order wrist and ankle shackles, he said. "They
will be treated like prisoners from now on," the sheriff
added.


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