Regional Roundup: Five Rescued From Yellow River, Burglary Suspect Escapes by Train and Friend Turns Arsonist After Fight

-- Loganville Patch

Gwinnett Fire and Emergency Services reported the rescue Thursday afternoon of five people in the Yellow river in Snellville, four of them children.

According to a press release, fire fighters found a total of five people in distress with three holding onto the bridge support column and two others further down the river past the bridge. GCFER spokesman Lt. Colin Rhoden reported that the victims, in three rafts were trying to exit the river before the bridge because of the rapid water conditions south of the bridge. The rafts got caught on rocks in the river and caused two of the victims to continue over the rocks and into some rough water.

 –Midtown Patch

Atlanta police are seeking two burglars who were prevented from making off with approximately $10,000 worth of liquor Thursday morning from Bim’s Package Store.

Officer responding to an audible alarm observed two unidentified black males loading a Ford Expedition with approximately 24 cases of liquor from the package store.

The burglars used a sledgehammer to break through a two-foot thick brick wall to enter the building.

According to police, one of the suspects fled by jumping down a 10-foot wall down to the railroad tracks that run east and west behind the business. With the officer in pursuit, the man jumped on a train that was headed east into downtown just by happenstance.

The other suspect was last seen running west behind the business. Neither suspect was captured. The vehicle – and the liquor - was left behind by the suspects.

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– Cartersville Patch

Authorities early Thursday morning jailed a Cartersville man accused of trying to start a fire by placing a T-shirt in his friend's gas tank and lighting it up.

Due to the proximity of the fire to a home and a natural gas meter, Dustin Alan Martin, 22, of Cassville Road in Cartersville, was arrested and charged with first-degree arson, according to the  incident report.

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