A riddler was given 58 days in jail for jumping out of a patrol car as he was being hauled to jail for grand theft auto.
The man, Seth Randall Short, 20, entered guilty pleas to charges of escape, criminal impersonation, possession of marijuana and joyriding. The charge of joyriding was reduced from its original felony theft so he could plea in General Sessions Court. He was directed by Judge Bill Locke to serve 58 days and pay a $250 drug fine. In return for the plea deal, he will waive extradition proceedings and willingly go back to Georgia where other charges await him.
His arrest came after deputies were dispatched to the Rock Island area to check out a report of a suspicious person. They found Short walking on the road, 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, prompting suspicions he wasn’t being truthful.
While Short was talking to deputy Tyler Glenn, another officer found a broken down Mazda nearby. It was found parked beside the road, further down Great Falls Road. Short admitted it was the car he was driving. 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.