Drunk driver runs from cop in church cemetery

An officer said he was working a traffic stop near Zion Church Road when he heard skidding tires and the sound of a crash in the distance. The officer drove to the area, where he found a BMW that had crashed into the Zion Church Cemetery. The car drive through two DOT street signs.

The officer saw a man hiding behind a cemetery sign and he fled through the graveyard. The officer lost sight of the man around a former daycare center next to the cemetery.

Later, the officer found a man hiding in the wood line between the cemetery and Interstate 85. The officer said the man smelled of alcohol and he claimed to be sleeping in the woods.

The man — Anthony Kenyon Hall, 31, of Hoschton — was the same person whom the BMW was registered. An officer also found a small amount of marijuana on Hall and the BMW key in his pocket.

Hall claimed that he wasn’t driving the vehicle and it was driven by a friend, although he wouldn’t tell the officer his friend’s name, according to incident report. Hall said he drank five beers that night.

An officer said he kept Hall and handcuffs because he believed that he would try to run away again if he took off the handcuffs for field sobriety tests. The officer believed that based on his observations, Hall was unsafe to drive. Later he provided breath tests at the Gwinnett County Jail.

Hall was charged with failure to maintain lane, failure to notify owner upon striking a fixture, disorderly under the influence, possession of less than one ounce of marijuana and DUI.

Other Incidents
Other incidents reported to the Braselton Police Department last week included:
•verbal dispute at American Nail and Spa on Old Winder Highway, where the owner of the store said she no longer needed a man’s services. The woman said she paid the man and told him to leave, but the man said he wasn’t paid in full and an argument started. The man said he would be back and the woman took the comment as a threat.

•assist at a Ga. Hwy. 211 address, where an off-duty Gwinnett County deputy said he and another man stopped to help a driver that they believed was having a medical problem. A Barrow County ambulance was already on the scene when the officer arrived. The female driver was taken to a hospital for an unknown medical problem. The Braselton officer did an inventory of the woman’s vehicle, which was towed from the scene.

•runaway juvenile at a Bald Cypress Drive address, where a woman said her nine-year-old son was missing after he was reportedly dropped off at his house by a school bus. The boy was found about 30 minutes later at a friend’s house down the street.

•theft by conversion at an Independence Lane address, where a woman that owns a lending company said another company had stolen about $27,000 from an escrow-type account. The woman said both companies are listed on the account and there is a contract between them concerning the account. The woman said when she asked a man from the other company about the missing funds, he denied having any knowledge. The man later told her that the money was taken to get back at her husband. The husband told an officer that there have been some attempt to negotiate a return of the money, but he has been unable to reach the other man recently. An officer said the matter could be handled by a civil court and not the criminal court.