A man who escaped from the Bryan County Jail stabbed a man and stole his truck, and ended up behind bars again after a high speed chase through Bulloch County Thursday morning.
Randall Joey Futch, 46, T. H. Lee Road, rammed a Brooklet Police officer near the end of the chase, causing his patrol car to overturn twice, said Georgia State Patrol Trooper First-Class J. B. Hodges, who issued charges against Futch for crimes committed during the chase.
Sheriff Clyde Smith nor Brooklet Police Chief Mike Buchan returned phone calls Thursday regarding the chase. Bulloch County Sheriff ’s Chief Investigator Capt. Todd Hutchens said the Bulloch County Sheriff ’s Department was briefly involved as deputies joined the chase, which began around 6 a.m. when Futch was spotted in Brooklet on U.S. 80 by Brooklet Police Officer Jonathan McGahee.
Futch escaped the Bryan County jail sometime Wednesday night, and early Thursday morning, stabbed a man at his Pembroke home before stealing his truck.
The victim, who suffered injury serious enough to be taken to the hospital, left his truck running and went back inside his home, Hodges said. When he returned, he found Futch “sitting in his truck.”
The two struggled, with Futch stabbing the victim with what is believed to have been a screwdriver, Hodges said. Futch took the truck and fled from the home which Hodges said was about nine miles east of Pembroke. McGahee, aware of lookouts posted regarding Futch’s escape and the subsequent stabbing and truck theft, spotted Futch on U.S. 80 in Brooklet and notified other law enforcement before giving chase, he said.
As Bulloch County Sheriff ’s deputies, Georgia State Patrol troopers and others joined in, Futch fled down Brooklet-Leefield Road to Clito Road, then from there to U.S. 301 North, fleeing into Screven County, Hodges said. Law enforcement officers pursued him to the Cooperville community, where he turned right onto Ga. 17 and continued fleeing, he said. About seven miles from Cooperville, near the Halcyondale community, Futch “intentionally” rammed McGahee’s patrol car, he said.
McGahee lost control, entered a ditch and flipped twice. He suffered visible injuries that required being taken to the hospital, where he was treated and released, Hodges said. Futch continued fleeing, turning into a field near Halcyondale Road before exiting the truck and running into swampy woodlands on foot, he said. Pursuing officers called for help from the Reidsville K-9 Unit and the Georgia State Patrol Aviation Unit to locate Futch.
“Aviation did a heck of a job and kind of flushed him ut of the woods,” he said.
After pursuit by tracking dogs and the helicopter, Futch came out of the swamp around 10 a.m., he said. Hodges charged Futch with two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, felony fleeing and ttempt to elude, driving with a suspended license, and reckless driving.
Hutchens said Futch had recently been sentenced to 10 years on charges stemming from several Bulloch County burglaries, and was in the Bryan County Jail awaiting court proceedings regarding several charges there.