A police pursuit that began in Newton County ended about 40 miles away when the suspects crashed Wednesday afternoon in downtown Atlanta. And it all started with a purse-snatching at a Wal-Mart.
Shortly before 1 p.m., a purse belonging to woman who was loading groceries into her trunk at the Wal-Mart in Covington was snatched from her shopping cart, according to Capt. Ken Malcom with Covington police. The victim, a 51-year-old woman from Oxford, tried to grab her purse and was dragged about 300 yards in the store’s parking lot, Malcom said.
Witnesses were able to provide officers with a description of the suspects’ vehicle, a maroon Ford Fusion occupied by a man and woman. About 15 minutes later, the Ford was spotted by a Covington officer on Almond Road at I-20, Malcom said.
“When Officer [Brian] Capps checked the vehicle registration information, it returned that this vehicle was stolen out of Wisconsin,” Malcom said in an emailed statement.
Capps tried to stop the Ford and activated his emergency equipment, but the car continued on I-20 westbound, according to police.
From Newton County, the chase continued into Rockdale and DeKalb, where the Ford caused a wreck on I-20, Malcom said. At I-20 and Boulevard, Georgia State Patrol troopers joined the pursuit, a spokesman for the agency said.
The Ford exited I-20 at Capitol Avenue and turned left onto Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, according to Gordy Wright, GSP spokesman.
“Heavy traffic aided the officers and they were able to pin this vehicle and stop it,” Malcom said.
Both the driver and the passenger, identified Thursday as Robert Joseph Chastain, 29, and Kristin Galloway, 25, were taken into custody, according to police. Capps sustained minor injuries during the arrests, Malcom said.
Chastain and Galloway, both of Missouri, were booked into the Newton County jail Wednesday night. They were being held Thursday afternoon without bond, jail records show.
Chastain was charged with aggravated assault, robbery, failure to stop at an accident with injury, reckless driving, and fleeing and attempting to elude. Galloway was charged with robbery and aggravated assault.
The victim of the purse snatching was transported to an Atlanta hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
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