Georgia officers say suspect tried to run over deputy before he was shot in arm and run off the road
CLEVELAND, Ga. (AP) — Officials say a north Georgia man loaded stolen goods onto a rented truck Saturday, torched a pickup and led officers on a chase with furniture spilling out of the truck before officers shot him in the arm and ran him off the road.
Alan Paul Heinze, a 53-year-old Cleveland man, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault against a police officer, fleeing a police officer, reckless driving and possessing a weapon while committing a felony.
Heinze was taken to a Gainesville hospital for treatment of his gunshot wound. Online jail records don’t list a lawyer for Heinze and no one responded Sunday to emails, phone calls and electronic messages to Heinze and a relative.
No bail has yet been set for Heinze.
Habersham County sheriff’s deputies tell local news outlets that Heinze broke into an outbuilding at a house near Demorest, loaded up a rented truck, and then used some sort of incendiary device to set a Chevrolet Silverado pickup on fire, destroying it. Habersham County Sheriff’s Investigator George Cason said the state fire marshal is investigating.
Heinze has been charged with burglary, arson and driving with an unsecured load in Habersham County, in addition to the White County charges.
White County deputies said they spotted the truck speeding toward Cleveland with furniture and other items falling out the back. When deputies tried to pull Heinze over, they say he refused to stop, disabling a patrol car by ramming it and later trying to run over a deputy. Officers say that’s when they started shooting at Heinze. He was hit in the arm, but kept going until deputies and Cleveland police ran the truck off the road into the parking lot of an elementary school.
No one else was injured.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is examining the gunshots by officers.