A Savannah man who escaped from a transitional center and tried to elude capture in a canoe without a paddle was arrested at Wormsloe Historic Site on Thursday afternoon.
Frederick Neil Rushing, 36, was apprehended by Savannah-Chatham police Marine Patrol officers and officers from the department’s helicopter, Eagle One, aided by Islands Precinct crime suppression and patrol officers, Georgia Department of Natural Resources officers and members of the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Rushing had tried to escape from officers investigating a theft from the visitor’s center of Wormsloe by paddling away in a plastic canoe using only his hands about 4:15 p.m., said Julian Miller, Savannah-Chatham police spokesman. His broken paddle was found in a camp he had set up on the state-owned plantation property, Miller said.
Isle of Hope residents had alerted Islands Precinct officers of a man living in the woods before Thursday’s reports, Miller said. Police already had identified him as the runaway from the Georgia Coastal Transitional Center before the helicopter pilot led Marine Patrol officers to the canoe at another camp about 6 p.m.
Police found him hiding under the canoe on Long Island, between Wormsloe and Skidaway Island, Miller said.
A warrant charging him with escape had been issued April 8. Islands Precinct detectives are investigating thefts and burglaries in the area in an attempt to determine if a connection could exist, Miller said.