A 29-year-old Douglas man is in jail after he allegedly crashed a vehicle after stealing it from a local Dollar General store.
On April 14, 2024, the victim pulled up to the Dollar General on McNeil Drive and ran in to get a few items. He turned off his vehicle, a black 2002 Chevrolet Silverado, but left the keys inside, according to an incident report from the Douglas Police Department. When he came back outside about five minutes later, his truck was gone.
The victim reported the stolen truck to 911 and a police officer arrived on the scene. The officer put out a BOLO on the truck. A short time later, he received a report that the truck had crashed into a light pole at North Pearl Avenue and East Jackson Street. When the officer arrived, he found Mitchell Garland Kelly, 29, standing beside the vehicle. Kelly said he had been walking on Gaskin Avenue and caught a ride with another man in the truck. The man crashed the truck, he said according to the report, then fled the scene.
However, a Broxton police officer lives nearby. He heard the crash and went outside to investigate. He told the DPD officer that he saw Kelly climb out of the driver’s side of the truck after it crashed into the pole. The two officers attempted to detain Kelly, who, the report says, resisted. The incident ended with Kelly tased and on the ground.
The two officers placed Kelly in the back of the DPD patrol car where, the report says, he dumped suspected methamphetamine in the back seat of the car. Kelly was charged with possession of methamphetamine, motor vehicle theft, obstruction, and driving on the wrong side of the road. He remains in the Coffee County Jail.