BALDWIN — A man wanted in two area counties was arrested after a brief chase and manhunt in Baldwin Saturday afternoon.
The incident started shortly after 1:30 p.m. on Ga. 365 southbound at Level Grove Road.
Sr. Trooper John Crawford of Georgia State Patrol Post 7 in Toccoa said he had just left two Baldwin police officers on Ga. 365, traveled north and was getting back onto Ga. 365 southbound from the Level Grove Road onramp when he observed the suspicious appearance of the vehicle involved.
“When I ramped back on there at Level Grove, I got behind this pickup truck that had been coming southbound right there,” Crawford said.
Crawford said the green Chevrolet S-10 truck had been covered with primer, had a black tailgate, and the year decal on the license plate was obscured by primer.
“When I ran the tag on the truck, it came back a valid tag but the registered owner on there had two active warrants, one out of Habersham and one out of White County,” Crawford said. “One was for meth possession and one was for obstruction.”
The truck turned onto Kudzu Hill Road, proceeding toward the dead end of the road at the gate the Baldwin wastewater treatment plant.
“Obviously he knows I’m behind him, so I’m thinking he’s going to try to do something drastic, so I didn’t pull right in behind him with the lights or anything,” Crawford said.
Crawford pulled to the side of the road and requested additional officers from Baldwin Police Department and the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office.
“He never came back out, and once we confirmed he does have warrants on him, all of us are sitting there thinking he’s either pulled up there and jumped out of the truck and ran or he’s sitting up there waiting on us to come up there,” Crawford said.
Crawford, a Habersham County Sheriff’s Office unit and a Baldwin Police Department patrol SUV made their way in on Kudzu Hill Road to where the truck had gone.
“When we turned and made the curve there on Kudzu Hill Road, and he was sitting there stopped on Kudzu Hill facing us,” Crawford said. “I pulled up there basically nose to nose to try to keep him from coming forward any more and stopped and turned the blue lights on.”
The sheriff’s office unit pulled up on the right side of Crawford’s patrol car.
“I get out of the car door and he starts revving the truck up,” Crawford said. “He basically rolls back a little bit and comes around my car on the driver’s side.”
Crawford said the truck went behind the bushes on the side of Kudzu Hill Road and the driver’s side of his patrol car.
“I don’t think he was trying to hit me, but he got real close to where I was getting out of the car, then he came on around me with me hollering for him to stop,” Crawford said.
As that was happening, the Baldwin police unit began backing up to be ready to pursue the truck if it made it around the other two patrol cars, according to Crawford.
“As they were backing up to turn around, he came around them on the back side of their vehicle trying to get back up toward the pavement, and when he did he basically took the whole corner of Baldwin’s SUV off – just clipped them,” Crawford said. “As they were proceeding to back up, they hit him in the side and it blew his driver’s side rear tire out.”
After striking the Baldwin police unit, the truck continued down Kudzu Hill Road, running the stop sign at Ga. 365 and narrowly missed being struck by a southbound car, Crawford said. Baldwin police followed closely behind.
A brief pursuit by Baldwin police ensued from Kudzu Hill Road to just north of Duncan Bridge Road.
“They did a PIT Maneuver on him almost as soon as he got out on the four-lane,” Crawford said.
The fleeing truck came to rest on the right shoulder of Ga. 365 and the driver fled on foot. A brief foot chase ensued.
Officers called off the foot chase after a short distance and opted to wait for the arrival of a tracking dog.
“At the time, we didn’t know if he had a gun or what was going on because he had those felony warrants,” Crawford said.
A Habersham County Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit arrived and deputies tracked the man to a location off Hubert Harris Road, a dirt road off Duncan Bridge Road (Ga. 384) just west of Ga. 365 in Baldwin.
“In the process of us trying to call for a helicopter and a state dog … the homeowner up there came out and said, ‘’I think the guy y’all are looking for is over here hiding in one of my buildings’, so they basically went up there and took him into custody pretty quick,” Crawford said.
Jonathan George Van Goosen, 26, of Mt. Airy is being held in the Habersham County Detention Center on the outstanding warrants from Habersham and White counties, and he will be charged by GSP on Sunday in connection with Saturday afternoon’s incidents.
“He was not intoxicated or anything like that,” Crawford said. “He just had those active warrants out of White County and Habersham. He’s definitely going to have fleeing and attempting to elude and obstruction definitely at this point -- and numerous traffic charges.”
Van Goosen had a gash on his leg, which Crawford said he believes happened when the man crossed a five-strand barbed wire fence to get into the cow pasture while fleeing from officers. He was taken by deputies to Habersham Medical Center for stitches of the cut, which Crawford described as about the size of a finger.
Crawford said the situation could have been worse.
“We did find what looked like a firearm in the vehicle,” Crawford said. “It was probably the most realistic looking BB pistol that I’ve ever seen. It looked like a .357 Magnum stainless steel revolver. It had a rubber grip on it just like you’d see one of these high-end pistols with. It looked as good as any real gun I’ve ever seen, but it was a BB gun in the truck with him.”
Baldwin officers saw the gun in the truck while the driver was still fleeing on foot from officers.
“It kind of got antsy there for a few minutes before it got better,” Crawford said. “I’m just glad he didn’t pull that gun out of the truck up there while we were coming up there or anything, because it could have been a lot worse.”
Crawford said the pickup truck sustained moderate damage, as did the 2017 Baldwin police Ford Explorer patrol unit.
