A Decatur County Prison inmate has been captured in Bainbridge after escaping from a work detail just after noon on Thursday, Jan. 22.
According to Warden Elijah McCoy, Daniel Lozano, 22, of Attapuglus, Ga., was picking up litter with other inmates off Mills Road, north of Bainbridge off Georgia 97 North.
Lozano picked up a beer bottle in a ditch and struck his guard, Cpl. Willie Brown, according to the warden. The guard’s hand was badly cut. As Lozano fled on foot, Cpl. Brown fired his gun twice at the escaping inmate, who was not hit.
Minutes later, a citizen reported a man had stolen his truck off Sharber Road, also off Georgia 97 North. Believing Lozano to be the driver, Deputy Warden Gordon Screen issued a “be-on-the-lookout” notice asking local law enforcement to be on the lookout for a red Dodge pickup truck.
State Trooper First Class Brian Palmer of the Georgia State Patrol’s Colquitt, Ga., post was in the area and started heading toward the intersection where Georgia 97 and Georgia 311 merge.
“The suspect almost had a head-on collision with my patrol car in front of Stone’s on Calhoun Street,” TFC Palmer said. “I already had my blue lights and sirens activated, so I turned around on him.”
The trooper followed the suspect onto Webster Street, then Water Street, Clay Street and finally onto Shotwell Street. Warden McCoy said the suspect’s driving at high speed was dangerous, as there were a number of vehicles on the road during the lunch hour.
TFC Palmer said he used the State Patrol’s “PIT” maneuver to force the truck off the road at the entrance to the Earle May Boat Basin. However, Lozano drove out of the ditch, back onto the Georgia 97 Connector.
TFC Palmer used the PIT manuever again to force the truck off the road at the entrance to the Flint River RV Park, just a short distance past the Boat Basin.
Lozano exited the truck and took off running again, but Trooper Palmer followed and used a Taser to subdue Lozano and place him under arrest.
In addition to a charge of escaping from state custody, Lozano will also be charged with several traffic law violations.
Lozano was sentenced to three years in prison in November 2010 after he pled guilty to charges of sexual battery and criminal attempt to commit statutory rape, according to Decatur County Superior Court records. In December 2012, Lozano was ordered back to prison for two years after he was arrested by the Decatur County Sheriff’s Office on the charge of failure to register as a sex offender.
His probation was revoked again in December 2014 after he was charged again with failure to register as a sex offender.
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