A riddler gave lawmen the slip when he bailed out of a patrol car after being arrested for grand theft auto.
The suspect, Seth Randall Short, 20, is charged with escape, grand theft, criminal impersonation, and simple possession of marijuana. He is also being held as a fugitive from justice as authorities in Georgia want to extradite him back there on charges.
His somewhat unusual arrest came when deputies were dispatched to the Rock Island area to check out a report of a suspicious person. They arrived to find Short on foot, claiming his vehicle had run out of gas. He first gave officers a fake name, claiming he was Alexander Collins Easterly. He also gave officers various claims on the make of the vehicle he had been driving that evening, prompting their suspicions that he wasn’t being truthful.
While Short was talking to Deputy Tyler Glenn, another officer found the Mazda he had actually been driving. It was found parked beside the road, further down Great Falls Road. Short then admitted it was the vehicle he was driving. The officer soon discovered the vehicle had been reported stolen. Short was then placed under arrest and searched. A small amount of marijuana was found in his backpack.
While admitting to driving the stolen vehicle, which he claimed belong to a friend, he was reluctant to tell officers where he hid the keys. Instead, he gave them a riddle to solve.
“Bow your head at 12 and don’t forget to check the mail,” Short riddled the officers, refusing to tell them where the keys were located.
Using the riddle, deputies found the keys to the stolen car lying in front of a mail box at Rock Island Church of Christ on Great Falls Road.
The excitement wasn’t over even as Short was being transported to jail.
“When I reached the red light on Sparta Street in front of Three Star Mall, he opened the back door of the patrol car and took off running,” Deputy Glenn recalled, noting he chased him on foot, finally catching him near the mall. His short run left him facing escape charges, along with the other counts he amassed earlier in the evening.