A man and woman were jailed after a group was accused of shoplifting at the Cedartown Walmart and ended up in hot pursuit by law enforcement in an attempt to get away.
Cedartown Police Chief Jamie Newsome said the chase that spanned three counties began when an officer was called out from his department by Walmart’s Loss Prevention department of suspected shoplifters leaving the store.
Newsome said a group of four were alleged to have taken items from the store, and then gotten into a vehicle police found out was stolen after Cedartown Police tried to stop the group from leaving.
The chase began, and after several minutes of trying to catch the vehicle Newsome said his shift commander at the time decided to call officers off and put out a lookout for the vehicle.
“Around 15 minutes later we got word from Floyd County that they were chasing a car heading back to Polk County on Highway 27 matching that description,” Newsome said.
He said the chase continued south again and into Haralson County, where eventually two of the group was involved in a wreck with a tractor trailer and the pursuit ended.
Newsome said that James Barber of a Temple, address, was booked by the Georgia State Patrol and jailed in Haralson County on charges in the City of Cedartown with shoplifting, fleeing attempting to elude and a laundry list of other traffic violations running from officers in Cedartown.
Police said the remaining two who were involved in the incident are believed to have fled from the car after officers called off the chase in Cedartown initially, and when it picked back up in Floyd County.
Their identities are under investigation, and Newsome asked for anyone who might have information to contact Cedartown Police Department at 770-748-4123.