A northwest Georgia man was arrested Thursday after a routine appearance in municipal court led to an escape attempt that ended with his rescue from the Oostanaula River.
Wesley Scott Furnish, 20, was in Rome Municipal Court to pay a speeding ticket when police discovered he had a warrant for felony probation violation, Rome assistant chief Debbie Burnett confirmed to AJC.com. Uniformed officers placed Furnish under arrest and handcuffed him in order to take him to jail.
Furnish told officers he needed to use the restroom, but when police removed the handcuffs, he bolted from the court building. According to a police incident report obtained Friday by AJC.com, he ran between the courthouse and parking decks. Multiple Rome police officers pursued him before he jumped down the heavily-wooded bank into the Oostanaula River.
Once in the river, Furnish attempted to swim across but could not contend with the current, the report said. He grabbed onto a log and surrendered to Rome police. Rome fire crews threw him a line attached to a buoy and pulled him to the riverbank.
Furnish was checked out by first responders and taken to the Floyd County Jail, where he is being held without bond on charges of felony probation violation, felony escape and two counts of obstruction.
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