FAIRFAX, S.C. - Allendale County sheriff's deputies in South Carolina say they have a man who escaped from a northeast Georgia deputy sheriff surrounded in the woods.
Sheriff Lt. Steven Robinson said Friday afternoon that tracking dogs are trying to find Perry Sullivan in an area that extends two miles into woods near Fairfax.
Stephens County, Ga., Sheriff Randy Shirley said Sullivan, who is from Hartwell, Ga., was being driven to Toccoa from Walterboro, S.C., when he told the veteran officer that he was ill and having seizures.
Shirley said because cell phone service was not good in the rural part of South Carolina where he was at the time and his patrol car's radio was "not compatible" with South Carolina law enforcement radio, the deputy stopped at a house and asked a woman there to call an ambulance.
But when he got back to his car, Sullivan told him he was feeling better and did not need an ambulance. So, the pair resumed their trip to Toccoa. However, a short time later, Sullivan said he was feeling sick again and felt like he was going to vomit.
The deputy stopped the car and got out to help Sullivan out of the car. That's when, according to Shirley, Sullivan shoved the officer to the ground, managed to get his gun and put it to the deputy's head, telling him to give him the car keys and keys to his shackles which included a "belly belt" and ankle irons.
The officer did as he was told and Sullivan jumped back in the patrol car and drove away. Sheriff Shirley says it was found about four hours later not far from where Sullivan escaped and that a manhunt was conducted for most of the night for him before being called off early Friday.
Shirley says the deputy is still shaken by what happened and stopped by his office Friday morning.
"He said he didn't sleep all night. He was facing death, obviously, he thought."
Shirley says the deputy is a "25- or 26-year" veteran of the sheriff's department.
(AccessNorthGa.com's Ken Stanford contributed to this story.)
Wednesday
July 2nd, 2025
6:33AM
