Covington police apprehended a fleeing suspect Saturday night after pulling over a speeding vehicle early in the morning.
After stopping a speeding vehicle near Geiger Street, a passenger from the car, later identified as Michael Paul, was arrested and transported to Newton County Detention Center and was charged with obstruction of an officer and possession of marijuana less than one ounce, after jumping out of the vehicle and leading Covington police on a short chase.

Paul attempted to jump a fence while fleeing, but the obstacle slowed him down, allowing police to apprehend him. When officers searched Paul, they found a small bag of marijuana.

Paul suffered lacerations to his face and body after fleeing through a wooded area. After being cleared by medical staff, Paul was taken into police custody.

The driver of the car, John Reaves, was also issued a warning for too fast driving conditions, and was transported to the Newton County Detention Center due to an unrelated warrant.

Adding insult to injury, Reaves’ 1999 Honda was towed after no one claimed the vehicle after the officers’ arrests.

Man shoots self in toe
An accidental gun discharge brought officers to a Covington home Sunday afternoon.

A Covington man told officers Sunday that his son and his son’s two friends accidently discharged one of the friend’s gun in a home on Lott Street.

In the report, one of the friends stated he was leaving the home to go to Walmart when the other friend told him that he forgot his gun. During the exchange, one of the friends said he accidently pulled the trigger and that the bullet struck him in the toe.

The father transported the friend to the hospital where he was treated for his injury.
The gun was taken into evidence by officers for safe keeping.

Sheriff on the wrong side of the law
Saturday night a Sheriff found herself on the wrong side of the law.

After suffering a blown tire on Alcovy Road near Industrial Driver, driver Cynthia Sheriff was detained by Covington Police officers and charged with DUI.

Sheriff’s Honda Accord was sitting in the turning lane near Industrial Drive with her hazard lights on after damaging her front left wheel. According to the report, Sheriff was waiting on her boyfriend to help repair the car when officers questioned her about the accident.

The report stated that Sheriff spoke softly to the officers and appeared nervous. Officers reported that there was an odor of alcoholic emanating from the vehicle. Sheriff told officers that she had two or three glasses of wine with dinner two hours prior to the accident.

Officers asked Sheriff to step out of the car and perform a series of field sobriety tests. Sheriff failed the tests and failed to give a sample of her breath before being transported to Newton County jail.

Copper thieves strike
A copper thief struck a Covington property Saturday, walking away with more than $1,800 in copper wiring.
A residential home in Covington reported the theft, stating that an unknown person took a copper coil and high-voltage wire from her air conditioning unit.
The report stated that copper wire was also stolen from the property at 7205 Lakeview Drive SW in Covington on Feb. 14.

Cuts of the cloth
Covington Police responded to a call Monday from a man who said a woman had come to his residence uninvited and started arguing.

According to reports, the woman then threw the man’s work uniforms on the ground in front of his door with the pants and shirts having been cut up.

Wrong turn
Brandon S. Waters received citations for failure to maintain lane and DUI early Saturday morning after pulling out in front of a Covington Police officer.

Driving on U.S. Highway 278, Waters turned onto Ga. Highway 142 North. Waters was in the inside lane with the officer to his outside. Before completing the turn, Waters failed to maintain his turning lane and crossed over into the officer’s path.

After stopping in the Wendy’s parking lot, the officer smelleda strong odor of alcoholic coming from Waters and Water’s speech was slurred. Waters was asked to step out of the vehicle and, after confirming that he had a few beers earlier in the night, was asked to perform a set of field sobriety tests.

Waters refused to perform the field evaluations and refused to provide a breath sample.

Waters was then taken into custody and transported to the Newton County jail.