A man arrested Thursday in a domestic dispute tried to elude police and hide inside a local business.
The only problem: He was wearing a GPS trackable ankle bracelet the entire time.
Christopher Tedford, 23, of Lowndes County is charged with misdemeanor domestic violence and violating his parole after a fight with his girlfriend in East Columbus.
Police responded to a call to Lehmberg Road at 11:10 a.m., where Tedford and his girlfriend were allegedly arguing inside a vehicle, according to a Columbus Police Department press release.
During the dispute the female victim’s grandmother approached to intervene.
At that point, Tedford pushed his girlfriend, who was in the driver’s seat, from the car and drove away, dragging the grandmother a short distance as she was briefly holding onto the car.
The suspect later wrecked the car and fled on foot, calling 911 to say he “was lost in a ditch,” the press release said.
“He was trying to throw off our search,” Police Chief Fred Shelton said in the release.
Shelton told The Dispatch this morning Tedford had also claimed he had been shot and was lying in the woods bleeding.
“That turned out not to be true,” Shelton said.
CPD officers and Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office deputies searched the wooded area where Tedford said he was before learning the suspect was wearing an ankle bracelet with GPS as a condition of his parole for a previous grand larceny conviction, according to the press release. Mississippi Department of Corrections personnel arrived later with GPS locator equipment, and officers found Tedford lying on a shelf inside Marvin’s Building Materials on Highway 182.
“He surrendered peacefully without incident,” Shelton said. “He was lying on a shelf, hoping to blend in with the surroundings, and it didn’t work well for him.”
The victims were both treated for minor injuries.
Tedford is being held in Lowndes County Adult Detention Center. He has an MDOC hold related to his parole.
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