Escaped trusty leads police on high speed chase in attempt to get home for holiday
An escaped convict from Screven County led law enforcement on a high speed chase through Pierce and Wayne Counties last week, in an apparent attempt to get home for Thanksgiving.
James Lamar White, 35, of Waycross, was taken in to custody Monday, November 24 and charged with two counts of fleeing and attempting to elude, theft by receiving stolen property and traffic charges including driving with license suspended/revoked, failure to drive in a single lane, giving wrong signal, seatbelt violation, driving under the influence and reckless driving.
“He told us he was just trying to get back home,” said Sheriff Ramsey Bennett.
White got to within 20 miles of his destination after traveling from Screven County, which is about 135 miles away. Screven County’s seat is Sylvania, located north of Statesboro along the South Carolina border.
According to the Sheriff, White was serving a sentence for — ironically — fleeing and attempting to elude. He was a trusty in the prison system and was assigned to the Screven County Work Detail.
He stole a Screven County Road Department Truck and used white paint to cover up the county seal and decals on the truck.
While passing through the City of Jesup, police officers there were suspicious of the truck and attempted to make a traffic stop. White did not stop and the chase was on.
Screven Police Department deployed stop sticks as White passed through that community. The stop sticks blew out the left front tire of the pick-up truck, but did not disable the vehicle.
Law enforcement reported the chase reached speeds of 120 m.p.h. in the straight away on U.S. Highway 84 in the Little Satilla River bottom between Offerman and Screven.
Wayne County law enforcement gave way to Pierce County and Georgia State Patrol units after the chase entered Pierce County.
Law enforcement stopped traffic in Patterson as a public safety precaution.
Georgia State Troopers performed a precision immobilization technique (PIT) on the truck outside of Patterson between Son Thomas Road and Aaron’s Way causing the pick-up truck to run off the road and crash into the ditch.
White was then taken into custody. He was treated by Pierce County EMS for a complaint of injury, but was released to the custody of law enforcement.
White reportedly told Sheriff Bennett he had made “a big mistake”.
“I told him his mistakes ended awhile back and this was now a clear violation of the law,” Bennett said.
White was, ironically, serving a sevenyear sentence for fleeing and attempting to elude. He was PIT’ed in about the same location on U.S. Highway 84 in the original offense dated November 23, 2022, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.
His incarceration for the previous charges began March 7, 2023.
White was charged in August, 2011 for criminal activity in Ware County over a three-day period copping five charges. The charges were criminal trespass, theft of a motor vehicle, criminal damage (second degree), possession of certain weapons and possession of a firearm (first offender).
