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A sheriff's deputy is out of the hospital and recovering at home after crashing his patrol car and taking out a large chunk of tree on Irwinton Road.
The accident occurred while the deputy was chasing a domestic violence suspect from Colony Farm Road back toward town. That suspect – Dan Patrick McNeeley, 41 – is now behind bars on a laundry list of charges. Included among the charges is felony theft by taking, as McNeeley is accused of stealing a van from a group home after wrecking his black SUV into a ditch.
The story then gets even stranger. After stealing the van, McNeeley called 911 and reported that he'd been in a fight with another man and the other man had stolen his SUV, the one that was in the ditch. McNeeley agreed to meet with deputies and Milledgeville Police Department officers in order to file a police report. He was subsequently arrested.
The injured deputy was Artrail Braziel, who's been on the force for roughly a year. Braziel, the son of former Baldwin County Public Schools Superintendent Geneva Braziel, is expected to miss a few more weeks of work.
Braziel and a second deputy initially were called out to the 330 block of Colony Farm Road following a domestic disturbance. While en route, Braziel spotted a black SUV matching the description of McNeeley's vehicle, and a high-speed chase ensued, according to an incident report. The chase continued north along the Gordon Highway and Irwinton Road, culminating when the patrol car and the black SUV both wiped out near the Irwinton Road Jet store. McNeeley then reportedly bolted from his SUV and spotted a Honda Odyssey parked outside of 1710 Irwinton Road. The van was running, and no one was inside. McNeeley reportedly hopped in the van and drove it to Flat Shoals Road, located towards the rear of the Valley Road neighborhood off of North Jefferson Street. McNeeley is listed with a Valley Road address.
Deputies ultimately were able to circle back to the Colony Farm address, where the entire ordeal began, and interview the victim and several witnesses. The victim relayed to deputies that McNeeley was "someone who she'd previously been involved with." The victim said that McNeeley arrived to her home unannounced and was "asked to leave several times." Added the incident report: "(The victim) stated Dan attacked her and grabbed her and thew her through a bedroom window and also destroyed a TV in the bedroom while attacking her. (The victim) advised that Dan drug her outside of the house into the yard, where he held her face-down on the ground by the neck."
Also interviewed was a 7-year-old girl, who told deputies that McNeeley "busted the window with (the victim's) head."
McNeeley is being held without bond at the county jail and charged with DUI, fleeing/attempting to elude, reckless driving, felony theft by taking, third degree cruelty to children, battery, criminal trespass, as well as a host of traffic citations.
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