Two men have been charged with multiple offenses after allegedly trying to hit one police officer and then striking another officer's car with a stolen SUV following a burglary this morning.
Randolph Wilson III, 19, and Ronald Bernard Grant, 20, were taken into custody after the 10:15 a.m. burglary on the Isle of Hope, a vehicle pursuit through four precincts and foot pursuit through an east Savannah neighborhood, said Julian Miller, Savannah-Chatham police spokesman.
Wilson was arrested on top of a house at 40th and Ash streets, where he had run to avoid police, and Grant was arrested nearby after officers from four precincts and the K-9 unit saw his foot under a house, Miller said.
Wilson has been charged with two counts of burglary, theft by receiving (auto), obstruction by fleeing, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of a drug related item and felony obstruction. Grant has been charged with reckless driving, fleeing and eluding, two counts of aggravated assault, theft by receiving (auto), obstruction by fleeing and burglary, police said.
Both suspects have previous arrests. Wilson was recently released from jail and is on probation with an ankle monitor, Miller said.
Four officers carried Wilson from the rooftop where he continued to resist arrest even after he was forced prone on the perch of the house, Miller said, adding that Wilson dropped an item into the chimney, threatened to roll off the roof and tried to kick an officer off.
Islands Precinct officers were responding to a burglary in which the door of a house had been kicked in on Raleigh Drive and several items, including two large televisions and a handgun, had been taken, Miller said. The burglary was similar to one on the 2400 block of Norwood Drive reported this weekend.
An officer on the 200 block of Oatland Island Road located a white Toyota RAV4 matching the description of the vehicle used in the burglary in front of another house and exited his vehicle to approach. The driver re-entered the SUV and drove toward the officer, forcing him to squeeze between his car door and his car’s body to evade the moving vehicle, Miller said.
The Toyota later collided with the front of a metro police car driven by a K-9 officer at Ott and Henry streets, Miller said. No injuries were reported.
Police pursued the Toyota through several precincts until they were advised to back off for fear of forcing a traffic accident, but they continued to observe the vehicle from several blocks back until it stopped near 39th and Ash streets in the Live Oak neighborhood and the occupants ran, Miller said.
By then, police had surrounded a nine-block area and neighbors helped point to Wilson on the rooftop and the direction Grant had run, Miller said. A K-9 led officers to the house where he was found.
The Toyota was identified as one stolen from an automobile dealership on Abercorn Street. It bore a Kentucky license plate later stolen from another car, and inside were items taken in at least one of the burglaries, Miller said.
Detectives are continuing to investigate the events leading up to the arrests.