A Canton man was arrested last week after he allegedly kidnapped a woman at a Waffle House in Cherokee County and drove at high speeds to prevent her escape, according to arrest warrants obtained Tuesday.
Sandy Springs police released video footage Monday of the dramatic arrest miles away at a popular hiking destination after the kidnapping suspect, 21-year-old Grayson Breaux, and the victim were located by license plate readers.
According to the warrants, Breaux is accused of abducting the woman just after 3 a.m. Wednesday outside the restaurant in the 8000 block of Cumming Highway. Cherokee deputies said he forced the victim into his vehicle and held her against her will.
They were former roommates, and Breaux violated a protection order by meeting her in the parking lot, according to authorities.
“Said incident was viewed by (detectives) from Waffle House surveillance video, which shows said victim attempting to exit the vehicle, while said accused continues to accelerate at high speeds, to prevent her escape,” a Cherokee deputy attested in the warrant.
The rescue took place Wednesday afternoon after the car was detected by license plate-reading devices in Sandy Springs, police said. The devices pointed officers to the parking lot for the East Palisades Trail, part of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area.
The protected area is located inside I-285, just west of the junction with I-75. Video footage from a Sandy Springs officer’s dashboard camera shows the patrol car speeding into a dirt parking lot by the East Palisades trailhead and blocking in a dark hatchback.
Additional footage from the officer’s body-worn camera shows him putting Breaux, wearing a red button-up shirt, in handcuffs on the ground. He can be heard calmly asking, “I just want to know what’s going on, please?”
The officer instead asks an unseen woman in the car if she’s OK. She can be heard responding “no” in a trembling voice.
The woman continues to speak inaudibly and the officer responds, “You’re going to be fine. You’ll be just fine.”
Breaux was arrested and booked into the Cherokee jail on charges of kidnapping and aggravated stalking, according to online records. He is being held without bond.
No further details have been released by police about the incident.
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