According to a Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office incident report, On December 17th, 2023, at 11:45 AM, Sergeant Southern was driving to 519 Moriah Noel Drive to see if Thomas Chad Johnson, Resaca, 35, had returned home. Thomas had fled from Deputy Dennison on a traffic stop the day prior and had active warrants from probation and for fleeing from Deputy Carter previously. When Sgt. Southern got to the culdesac he observed Thomas in the driveway. Thomas then turned and quickly fled into the residence. Sgt. Southern held cover on the house until Deputies Long, Dennison and Diak arrived. Deputy Dennison was in the process of obtaining a felony warrant for Thomas for fleeing. According to the report, “While on scene, he was sworn in by Judge Phillips and the warrant was signed. At this time, Animal Control Deputy Diak retrieved the five dogs from the porch and secured them. Deputies then forced entry into Thomas house through his front door. Deputies searched the house and Deputy Diak located Thomas under the house via a trap door in the bathroom. Thomas was placed under arrest and transported to the Whitfield County Jail where he was served his warrants. Thomas was charged with misdemeanor probation violation, two counts of removing/affixing a license plate with the intent to conceal the identity of a vehicle, felony fleeing/attempting to elude a police officer, misdemeanor willful obstruction of law officers, two counts of failure to maintain lane/driving on the wrong side of the road, two counts of failure to maintain lane, two counts of driving with a suspended or revoked license, two counts of reckless driving, driving too fast for conditions, no county decal/revalidation and county decals, driving without insurance and a headlights violation.