There was a bit of a buzz on social media on Sunday afternoon about a U-Haul and police with guns out. Why? Criminals can’t even drive through Peachtree City. “That’s the reputation that we try to uphold and spread throughout metro Atlanta,” said Lt. Chris Hyatt, Public Information Officer of the Peachtree City Police Department.

On Sunday afternoon, PTCPD officers were alerted by an automatic license plate reader camera that there was a stolen vehicle traveling through the southern part of Peachtree City. Officers backed it up with an AGCIC query, “That’s how we run driver’s licenses, license plates,” said Lt. Hyatt.

It was a U-Haul recently reported stolen by Spalding County Sheriff’s Department. That’s a potential felony.

It wouldn’t have been unusual for a PTC Police officer to run a plate on a U-Haul. Hyatt explained, “U-Haul are quite frequently used in various criminal activities just based off of the anonymity that you can get through renting it and holding onto it for duration. If you’re able to rent one under a false identity, then you can pretty much do what you want with it for as long as you need. So it’s kind of a common practice that we go through.”

Peachtree City sent multiple officers, as part of their protocol. As Lt Hyatt said, “They affect a traffic stop in the Circle K parking lot right there at Highway 74 and Crosstown. That’s where all of the buzz came from, where everybody saw five to six police officers guns drawn.

“Standard practice is this: When you have a stolen vehicle, it’s obviously a felony charge you’re dealing with. You never know exactly what you’re encountering during that stop or what it’s been used for. So we conduct what we call a felony stop, which is a very specific process to handle high risk traffic stops, which involves multiple officers getting the vehicle under control, calling the occupants out one at a time, taking them into custody, and then going one slice at a time to figure out exactly what you have. Once the scene is completely contained and all occupants are under control, you’ve rendered it safe to do so.”

There were three occupants in the U-Haul. The driver, Holli Walker, 39 from Hampton, Georgia, was charged with felony theft by receiving for being in possession of the stolen vehicle, as well as felony drug charges for items found in her possession during the interaction. The second occupant, James Gregory, 59 of Union City, had active warrants out in Spalding County, and was placed under arrest for those. The third occupant was identified and released with no charges. Hyatt explained only the driver of a stolen vehicle is charged with the theft of that vehicle.

Hyatt said it’s possible that the Spalding County Sheriff’s Department will be able to levy charges to the others based on their investigation, if, for example, they had video footage of the three of them stealing the U-Haul.

In the meantime, the U-Haul was towed to the impound yard for Spalding County to take it over. Ms Walker has been granted bond for her potential offenses.

Again, criminals should probably just avoid driving through Peachtree City. “You have officers out there remaining vigilant to ensure that the criminal activity is kept to a minimum, even when it bleeds over from neighboring jurisdictions,” concluded Lt. Hyatt.