A car carrying four women suspected of shoplifting from an outlet mall led Forsyth County deputies on a short chase on Ga. 400 before they were stopped with a PIT maneuver Saturday afternoon, authorities said.
The incident began at the North Georgia Premium Outlets when local authorities issued an alert about four women suspected of shoplifting, the Forsyth sheriff’s office said on social media. The Dawson County Sheriff’s Office asked other agencies to be on the lookout for four women traveling in a gray Ford Fusion with paper tags and missing a front bumper.
A Forsyth deputy spotted the car driving erratically on Ga. 400 South and began following it, the sheriff’s office said. The deputy tried to perform a traffic stop based on the information out of Dawson and the car’s reckless driving.
The car initially stopped, but sped away when the deputy used his loudspeaker to tell the suspects to get out. After a chase that lasted less than 20 seconds, the deputy used a precision immobilization technique (PIT) maneuver to force the car off the road and into an embankment just past Exit 13 for Peachtree Parkway. All four women were taken into custody.
The driver, 27-year-old Brenaldia Stephens of Atlanta, was charged with reckless driving, fleeing or attempting to elude and possession of marijuana, the sheriff’s office said. Stephens was booked into the Forsyth County Jail on Saturday and remains there on bond of nearly $9,000.
During a search, deputies found that one of the passengers, 23-year-old Marquita Thomas, was carrying $700 in counterfeit money, the sheriff’s office said. Thomas was charged with second-degree forgery and also booked into the Forsyth jail. She remains held on more than $4,000 bond.
The two other suspects were turned over to the Dawson sheriff’s office.
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