Watkinsville Man in Custody Following Foot Chase In Oconee County

A 20-year-old Watkinsville man wanted on a probation violation charge led Oconee County Sheriff's deputies on a foot chase Wednesday morning.

According to Chief Deputy Lee Weems, deputies were attempting to serve James Christopher Lemmonds with the warrant at a Hillcrest Drive residence around 9:30 a.m. when he took off.

"We were able to get there pretty quickly due to the proximity and we just kept pressure on him, got the dog out quickly," he said. "We had units all in the area and there were some citizens out helping spot."

A Nixle alert advised that the chase was in the area of Experiment Station and Loch Lomond roads.

Farmers opened their gates so deputies could cut through fields in pursuit, Weems said.

Sgt. James Hale estimated that the chase covered about two square miles "because (Lemmonds) circled back two or three times."

The pursuit continued through a cow pasture behind the Oconee Campus of the University of North Georgia on Bishop Farms Parkway. That's when Sheriff Scott Berry rammed a barbed wire fence with his truck and apprehended the suspect in the woods.

"When I drove the truck through the fence, at about 50 feet into the woods, I got out with a rifle and told him to stop," Berry recalled. "He threw his hands up and turned around and faced me and laid down."

By 10:18 a.m., the Sheriff's Office notified the public that Lemmonds was in custody.

Weems said the original charges connected to the probation violation were drug possession, theft by receiving, and carrying a firearm without a license.