Two men were charged with multiple offenses Monday after police say one of them tried to hit one police officer then struck another officer’s car with a stolen SUV following a burglary.
Randolph Wilson III, 19, and Ronald Bernard Grant, 20, were taken into custody after the 10:15 a.m. burglary on the Isle of Hope, a vehicle pursuit through four precincts and foot pursuit through an east Savannah neighborhood, said Julian Miller, Savannah-Chatham police spokesman.
Wilson was arrested on top of a house at 40th and Ash streets, where he had run to avoid police, and Grant was arrested nearby after officers from four precincts and the K-9 unit saw his foot under a house, Miller said.
Wilson has been charged with two counts of burglary, theft by receiving (auto), obstruction by fleeing, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of a drug related item and felony obstruction. Grant has been charged with reckless driving, fleeing and eluding, two counts of aggravated assault, theft by receiving (auto), obstruction by fleeing and burglary, police said.
Both Wilson and Grant have previous arrests. Wilson was recently released from jail and is on probation with an ankle monitor, Miller said.
Four officers carried Wilson from the rooftop where he continued to resist arrest even after he was forced prone on the perch of the house, Miller said, adding that Wilson dropped an item into the chimney, threatened to roll off the roof and tried to kick an officer off.
Islands Precinct officers were responding to a burglary in which the door of a house had been kicked in on Raleigh Drive and several items, including two large televisions and a handgun, had been taken, Miller said. The burglary was similar to one on the 2400 block of Norwood Drive reported this weekend.
An officer on the 200 block of Oatland Island Road located a white Toyota RAV4 matching the description of the vehicle used in the burglary in front of another house and exited his vehicle to approach. The driver re-entered the SUV and drove toward the officer, forcing him to squeeze between his car door and his car’s body to evade the moving vehicle, Miller said.
The Toyota later collided with the front of a metro police car driven by a K-9 officer at Ott and Henry streets, Miller said. No injuries were reported.
Police pursued the Toyota through several precincts until they were advised to back off for fear of forcing a traffic accident, but they continued to observe the vehicle from several blocks back until it stopped near 39th and Ash streets in the Live Oak neighborhood and the occupants ran, Miller said.
By then, police had surrounded a nine-block area and neighbors helped point to Wilson on the rooftop and the direction Grant had run, Miller said. A K-9 led officers to the house where he was found.
The Toyota was identified as one stolen from an automobile dealership on Abercorn Street. It bore a Kentucky license plate later stolen from another car, and inside were items taken in at least one of the burglaries, Miller said.
Detectives are continuing to investigate.
Police: Man’s lip grazed in shooting
Police say a man’s lip was grazed by a bullet but he was otherwise uninjured in a Monday morning shooting on the 200 block of West 73rd Street.
Violent crimes detectives are investigating the 9:40 a.m. shooting of the 42-year-old man, who was treated at the scene by Southside Fire/EMS medics, said Julian Miller, Savannah-Chatham police spokesman.
Miller said the victim’s cooperation with police limited initially.
Police are asking anyone with information on the shooting to call CrimeStoppers at 912-234-2020 or text CRIMES (274637). Tipsters remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward.
Investigators can be reached confidentially at 912-525-3124.
Second Harvest gets refrigerated trailers from Great Dane
Great Dane is providing two refrigerated trailers to America’s Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia after the roof of the nonprofit’s large walk in freezer collapsed over Labor Day weekend.
The 53-foot Everest trailers will be used to store frozen foods salvaged after the collapse, said Cindy Nahrebne, Great Dane spokeswoman.
Great Dane, which built a new custom refrigerated trailer for Second Harvest earlier this year, is lending the food bank the trailers for up to six months, the estimated time it will take for the freezer repairs to be completed, according to the company.
The two trailers are replacing four cold-storage trucks rented on an emergency basis after the collapse.
Second Harvest could save more than $43,200 in rental fees while the freezer is being repaired, according to Great Dane.
Bond revoked for Moretz in grisly Effingham case
Bond was revoked Monday for Kimberly Moretz, who is accused of concealing the grisly death of a Wilmington Island man.
Moretz is being housed in the Effingham County jail. Her trial was scheduled to start Sept. 23, but that has been postponed indefinitely, according to Assistant District Attorney Brian Deal.
Moretz is accused of concealing the death of Charlie Ray, 35.
Deal said Superior Court Judge F. Gates Peed revoked her bond “based on her excursion to Florida.”
Moretz was arrested in Florida on Aug. 29. As a condition of her bond, she was supposed to remain in Effingham County.
She had asked Peed in February for permission to go to Florida, where she had a job prospect, but Peed denied the request.
Deal told the court in February that the state was concerned Moretz would not return for trial.
“By her own admission, she has no ties (here),” Deal said at the time. “These are extremely serious charges. We believe she is a grave flight risk.”
Her husband, Chad Moretz, took her hostage on Jan. 11 in their house in the Westwood Heights subdivision in the Rincon area.
Chad Moretz was shot to death by a Savannah-Chatham SWAT team member during an armed standoff with police.
When investigators entered the hostage scene at the Whitehall Avenue home, they discovered the partial remains of Ray.
His torso and limbs were found in garbage bags in a rental storage unit rented by Kimberly Moretz in Jasper County, S.C.
Investigators believe Chad Moretz stabbed Ray to death in the kitchen of the Moretz residence on Jan. 1 or Jan. 2.
Also charged in the case was Kevin Lambert, the brother of Kimberly Moretz.
Lambert pleaded guilty on Aug. 6 to hindering the apprehension of a criminal. Peed sentenced Lambert to five years of probation and required him to stay out of the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit and stay away from Ray’s family.
Compiled by Dash Coleman and G.G. Rigsby