Rockdale inmate escape and arrest: What happened and what we know
A Rockdale County inmate slipped away from a downtown Atlanta hospital earlier this week and led authorities on a multicounty chase that stretched over three days.
Timothy A. Shane, 52, escaped from Grady Memorial Hospital early Monday and was apprehended about 40 miles away in Newton County on Wednesday morning, officials said.
At a news conference held hours after officials found him, Rockdale Sheriff Eric Levett declined to answer numerous questions about the escape. But a timeline provided by Levett, the sheriff’s office and other agencies sheds light on Shane’s many alleged movements during the getaway.
Here’s what we know.
Nov. 23
The incident that led to Shane’s initial booking into the Rockdale County Jail started when neighboring Newton County officials alerted Conyers police to a kidnapping suspect driving that way. Conyers police spotted the suspect along Ga. 138 headed toward I-20 around 7:30 p.m. and attempted to pull him over.
At the time, Conyers officers knew the man, later identified as Shane, had gone to a nearby convenience store with a woman who mouthed “help me” to the clerk, according to a Conyers police incident report. Authorities later learned Shane knew the woman, had taken her from her home in Covington — in Newton — earlier the same day and demanded she give him $500 to be released, the report states.
He then drove to various convenience stores ordering her to withdraw the money from ATMs, the report details. She was only able to get $200, which she handed to him, it states.
“Throughout the day, she made several attempts to alert members of the public and law enforcement that she was in trouble and needed help,” officers noted in the report.
When Conyers officers caught up to him, a pursuit reaching 128 mph ensued as Shane refused to pull over for the traffic stop. Police said the car chase ended in a residential neighborhood when officers forced the vehicle to a stop using a pursuit immobilization technique maneuver.
Shane then ran away from the disabled vehicle before officers used a Taser to subdue him and take him into custody. Police said they found marijuana and methamphetamine in his shirt pocket and sock.
According to the report, Shane had been armed throughout the day, but it’s not clear if he pointed the gun at the woman he’s accused of kidnapping. He did, however, hand the gun to her during the police chase “and ordered her to wipe his fingerprints off of it,” the incident report states. She told police she did so out of fear but managed to avoid giving it back to him when he demanded it at the end of the pursuit.
Nov. 24
Shane was booked into the Rockdale jail on several charges, including felony fleeing a police officer, reckless driving, possession of methamphetamine and multiple illegal weapons charges.
He also had an unspecified warrant to hold him in custody for another agency. It is not clear if that is related to the incident from Newton County.
Sunday
Shane was taken to the hospital after attempting to hurt himself, according to the Rockdale sheriff’s office. He arrived at Grady around 8 p.m. with two deputies, but at some point, one of them left.
While at the hospital, Shane was undergoing specific evaluations that kept him from being moved to Grady’s detention center wing, Levett said. He would not confirm exactly what happened during Shane’s hospital visit but said department policy calls for inmates to be cuffed and shackled any time they are being moved, especially outside the jail. However, metal objects must be removed during certain medical procedures, he added.
Monday
Shane escaped during those hospital evaluations around 1:20 a.m., the sheriff said. He was wearing only a medical gown and no shoes in 43-degree breezy weather.
Officials said he left the hospital and stole an SUV parked nearby at Piedmont and Auburn avenues. At that time, no one was chasing him, Levett said, but Shane crashed the vehicle less than a mile away at Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard.
He ran from that scene, the sheriff’s office said. A Glock handgun was later reported stolen out of that vehicle.
Shane then allegedly stole another vehicle, a silver Pontiac Grand Prix that had been parked near Mercedes-Benz Stadium. By 8:10 a.m., the vehicle was spotted in Rockdale County. Sometime after that, investigators found it at a Publix in Henry County near McDonough — 30 miles south of the stadium.
After ditching the second car at the grocery store, Shane eventually took an Uber to southern Rockdale County, officials said. Deputies got a search warrant for a house and did not find him, but people at the home said he had been there earlier.
It’s not clear what time Shane arrived at the store or took the Uber. The sheriff’s office confirmed at 9 p.m. Monday the second car had been located and released information about the rideshare just before 9 a.m. Tuesday.
In a Tuesday statement, an Uber spokesperson said the company is cooperating with investigators and blocked the rider account associated with the trip Shane took.
At some point, officials said, he changed into different clothes.
Tuesday
Around 4:40 p.m., the Rockdale sheriff’s office received reports Shane was at a Dunkin on U.S. 278 in Covington, Levett said. But he still managed to elude officers.
It’s not clear when, but Shane eventually took another rideshare that dropped him off “in the middle of the road” around Old Monticello Street, the sheriff said. From there, officials said Shane started knocking on doors, which prompted several 911 calls.
The sheriff’s office announced on social media that a $5,000 reward was offered for information leading to Shane’s arrest.
Law enforcement swarmed the area by air and on foot. But by midnight, Shane was still not in custody.
Wednesday
At 6:47 a.m., Shane was found in an abandoned home on Morris Drive in Covington and taken into custody.
“Some property” was recovered at that house, Levett said, but he could not say if authorities found the gun reported stolen from the SUV.
Shane was later returned to the Rockdale jail, where he remained Wednesday afternoon.
