A traffic stop in Savannah on Thursday afternoon led to the arrests of three convicted felons and the seizure of guns, drugs and cash.
Savannah-Chatham police investigators were still piecing together charges Thursday night and had not yet released the identities of the three people who were arrested.
The incident began about noon when an officer with Central Precinct’s Crime Suppression Unit stopped a car at East 32nd Street and Waters Avenue. The driver ran from the car to a house a block away at 33rd and Waters while officers pursued on foot, said police spokesman Julian Miller.
The man was seen tossing a firearm as he fled police, Miller said.
Occupants of an apartment in the house saw the pursuit headed their way and several males began running from the house as well, Miller said.
Nearby officers quickly saturated the area, closing off a four-block perimeter, entrapping the other two suspects, who were found by K-9 officers, Miller said.
Metro detectives and a Chatham County Sheriff’s Office gun dog executed a search warrant on the home and collected five more firearms, including assault rifles and a 75-round magazine, semiautomatic pistols, an undisclosed amount of crack cocaine, more than $2,000 in cash and a ballistic jacket, Miller said.
Police also found photographs of themselves and other officers that were taken during a similar operation last year that had printed out by the suspects, Miller said.
The heavy presence of officers in the area was part of Central Precinct commander Capt. DeVonn Adams’ “All Hands on Deck" initiative. The initiative, which began last year, has Adams asking his officers to delay days off and vacations during the summer months when crime traditionally increases in the Central Precinct.
“When the (driver of the vehicle) took off from officers, we had a lot of officers in place, and were able to apprehend them pretty quickly without anyone getting hurt,” Adams said.
Adams said about 15 officers were involved in the arrests Thursday.
“This is what they do every day,” he said. “It’s their job to saturate the community and look for quality of life issues. Because of All Hands on Deck, we’ve been able to keep crime down and improve quality of life.”