Police found drugs on a handcuffed hit-and-run suspect who led them on an hour-long chase through three cities, according to Gwinnett County arrest warrants.
The warrants do not say if Joshua Jones, 28, ingested the methamphetamine and Oxycodone before he allegedly stole four vehicles, including a patrol car, and committed at lease six hit-and-runs. He was wanted in Forsyth County on a probation violation during the pursuit.
Jones was hospitalized after the chase and was not booked in the Gwinnett County jail Friday evening.
Authorities spent a chunk of Thursday afternoon chasing Jones between DeKalb and Gwinnett Counties.
Jones initially stole a white box pickup truck that was left running at a QuikTrip in the 2000 block of Beaver Ruin Road, Gwinnett police Cpl. Michele Pihera said.
The driver left “the doors unlocked while he took products inside the convenience store,” Pihera said. “When the driver walked back out to his truck, he found it missing.”
Officers caught up with Jones after witnesses called about several hit-and-runs near Jimmy Carter Boulevard in Norcross. Two civilians followed and detained Jones in DeKalb County until an officer arrived and arrested him.
The officer handcuffed Jones and placed him in his squad car, but turned around to find the suspect had moved his hands to the front, likely moving them under his legs, squeezed through the prisoner window and stole the car.
Police say Jones then drove to Heritage Golf Links in Tucker, where he abandoned the patrol car and allegedly stole a Ford F150 pickup truck from a maintenance building. Officials were able to track him to the location through a 911 dispatcher.
Jones continued his alleged crime spree, abandoning the truck and stealing a blue and silver pickup truck at a Taco Bell before fleeing to Duluth.
Police finally caught up with him on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard after he’d hit several cars in a nearby Walmart parking lot. An officer performed a PIT maneuver, causing the truck to swerve and flip on its side.
Jones was taken to Gwinnett Medical Center. He is expected to be OK.
The white stolen box truck and Ford F150 were returned to their owners, police said. DeKalb police is investigating the patrol car theft.
Jones faces obstruction, drug, fleeing, criminal trespass, theft charges out of Gwinnett County. Charges have not been released on the crimes committed in DeKalb County.
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