BALDWIN — A Gainesville man faces charges after running from a Georgia State Patrol trooper during a traffic stop on Ga. 365 in Baldwin Thursday afternoon.
The male, a passenger in a vehicle occupied by a pregnant Toccoa female and three children, jumped out and ran when Sr. Trooper John Crawford returned to his patrol car to check the man’s identification during that traffic stop for speeding on Ga. 365 southbound, Crawford said Thursday night.
“Just north of the red light [at Duncan Bridge Road], he darted across the median and ran across the northbound lanes and ran off in the woods right there,” Crawford said.
Crawford called for assistance from law enforcement personnel in Habersham County, and quickly received it from the sheriff’s office, Alto, Baldwin and Demorest police departments. He remained with the female driver of the vehicle until other units arrived.
“Everybody was involved with it,” Crawford said. “Alto, Habersham, the state K-9 trucks were there, one of the Gainesville troopers, Baldwin, Demorest – everybody. I had their portable in the car and I keyed up on it and I guess everybody in the county heard it and came down. I just can’t thank them enough.”
Crawford said the man continued to run from officers, so K-9 units from the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office and Lee Arrendale State Prison were utilized to track him.
“He ran in the woods in the woods down a power line right-of-way,” Crawford said. “The dog from Alto tracked pretty good. Then we lost the track on him for a few minutes. What he did was basically come out to the edge of the road.”
Deputy Brandon Holcomb of the sheriff’s office HEAT Unit was parked on the shoulder of Ga. 365 and saw the man and yelled at him, Crawford said.
“He was coming out of the woods right there at Red Hawk Lane,” Crawford said.
Red Hawk Lane essentially is located across from Swineharts Power Equipment on Ga. 365 in Baldwin.
“He just walked on down,” Crawford said. “He was burning up. It was hot. He was all covered in dirt and briar scratches and everything else; we all got cuts and bruises.”
Crawford identified the man who ran as Hakem Alexander Walton.
“The guy ran for no reason,” Crawford said. “He thought he had a parole warrant on him, or probation warrant. The [probation] officer as far as we know hasn’t filed anything on him. That’s the only reason he ran is because he thought he had an active warrant.”
Crawford issued citations to the female driver of the car for the initial charge of speeding and for a defective windshield.
Walton was arrested and is charged with obstruction of an officer, and with giving a false name, address or date of birth to law enforcement officer, both misdemeanors, Crawford said. He was taken to the Habersham County Detention Center in Clarkesville. Bond on the charges is set at $3,500.
“From when the traffic stop started at 4:25, I think around 5:45 we had him rounded up and captured,” Crawford said.
The unseasonably warm temperatures not only affected the fleeing man, but also officers and K-9s.
“We were all about to pass out from the heat,” Crawford said. “It was super hot, and even the dogs were overheated. It was a bad area to track in, too. The woods down there were extremely thick. It was just briars and scrub bushes everywhere. We ran probably about a mile in the woods, back and forth, and it was all up and down hills, through creeks and pretty miserable."
The search slowed northbound traffic on Ga. 365 in Baldwin for more than a hour until emergency vehicles moved from the median and shoulder of the highway.
