A Clayton County man is accused of leading police on a wild chase in a stolen truck Friday in an incident that was captured on video by an Atlanta police helicopter.
After the stolen truck was reported near the intersection of Jonesboro Road and Cleveland Avenue in southeast Atlanta, officers in two separate patrol cars began to chase it, Atlanta police said in a news release. The officers requested help tracking the truck from the Atlanta Police Department’s helicopter.
According to police, the 2002 Chevrolet Silverado had been reported stolen in Dunwoody on Nov. 20 and was being driven by Juan Montalvo, of Forest Park. Officers in the APD helicopter quickly spotted the truck from the air and began communicating with officers on the ground.
The video shows the Silverado heading onto I-75 South. On the way to the interstate, the truck blows a tire and continues onto the highway with sparks flying behind it. The truck can be seen exiting onto Jonesboro Road where it cuts across a grassy divider into the parking lot of a gas station.
The video shows the driver and a female passenger getting out of the truck, then the driver attempting to get in a car driving through the gas station’s parking lot.
“Looks like the driver ran him off,” one of the airborne officers says in the video.
The driver then spots the arriving police officers and runs. One officer can be seen chasing him around the back of the gas station.
According to Atlanta police, the officer tried to stun Montalvo with a Taser, but it was only partially effective. The officer was then able to physically gain control of Montalvo and take him into custody. A second officer searched Montalvo and found methamphetamine.
The woman, who was riding in the truck with Montalvo and was not identified, told police that she asked Montalvo to let her out when the chase began. He did not allow her to exit the truck, which led police to add one count of false imprisonment to Montalvo’s charges. The woman has not been charged, police said.
Montalvo was booked into the Fulton County Jail on multiple other counts, including felony theft, obstruction, fleeing and attempting to elude and methamphetamine possession, along with multiple traffic violations, according to jail records. He remains in jail on $14,000 bond.
“We’d like to thank and commend our A.C.E. Unit, Zone 3 officers, and our Phoenix Air Unit for their collective effort in safely apprehending this dangerous criminal who showed no regard for citizen safety or other folks’ property,” Atlanta police said in a news release. “The investigation continues.”
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