SAVANNAH, GA (November 27, 2014): Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police arrested two suspects for endangering children Tuesday and Wednesday after chasing both of them down on foot.
Louis Christopher Williams, 32, was charged with several felonies, including cruelty to children and assault on an officer after crashing into other vehicles and a building and attempting to strike officers with his vehicle while his 6-year-old son was lying on the front seat Tuesday afternoon.
And Chris Andrew Mauney, 38, was charged with cruelty to children and traffic charges after crashing into a dump truck, leaving three children with a stranger and running away on foot just after noon Wednesday.
Williams’ adventure began about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday when officers assigned to the Metro Violent Crime Task Force stopped his white Chevrolet Caprice with an expired tag at Burroughs and West 42nd Streets. The officers discovered the child lying on the front seat and became concerned when he seemed reluctant to converse with them.
When police questioned Williams, who had provided a false name, he put the car in gear and sped away, almost running over the feet of an officer. At 42nd and Montgomery Streets, the Chevrolet sideswiped a parked car and rear-ended another before crashing into another parked car on Bull Street.
Officers parked behind the stopped Chevrolet and approached it on foot. As they approached the vehicle, it suddenly sped toward them in reverse, colliding with the unoccupied patrol car and speeding away as the officers jumped out of its path.
An officer in an unmarked car watched the Caprice continue to speed recklessly while no marked car was pursuing it, running cars off the road and striking another vehicle before crashing into a building at Bull and 61st Street. The undercover officer observed Williams grab the child by the nape of the neck and run into an area with bushes where they later were found.
Williams, a convicted felon, was wearing an empty pistol holster on his belt and a magazine to a weapon was found outside his car. He admitted throwing the weapon itself out during the flight. It was not recovered.
Williams was charged with three counts of cruelty to children, aggravated assault on a police officer, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and multiple traffic violations.
Mauney was found hiding in bushes on Kane Street in west Savannah after he crashed his 2006 Dodge Stratus into the rear of a dump truck, left children ages 7, 4 and 2 who were in his car with a stranger at a nearby business and ran from the scene at West Bay Street and East Lathrop Avenue about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.
He was examined at Memorial University Medical Center for complaints of pain from the crash and transported to the Chatham County Detention Center. He has been charged with cruelty to children, following too closely, leaving the scene of an accident and no license on person.
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