A Cedartown man remained in custody awaiting bail on misdemeanor charges after Polk County Police booked him for multiple charges after fleeing from a traffic stop in an early morning hours incident on Saturday.
Atanael Escalante, 26, of a Cedartown address, was booked into custody on Saturday morning on multiple charges. Police first tried to stop Escalante just after 2:30 a.m. on January 27 near the intersection of Highway 278 and Atlanta Highway in Rockmart for failure to maintain lane.
Per the report instead of stopping normally, he instead slammed on his brakes on the shoulder and then fled the car on foot up a steep embankment.
The officer attempting to pull him over followed on foot and could hear him, but couldn’t initially find him. A Rockmart Police K-9 Officer was brought out to track Escalante, and they did find his phone and his path all the way to a creek that police did not wish to cross for safety reasons.
After they called off the track and went back to Escalante’s vehicle, police found nine different open containers of alcohol including some still cold in the cupholder, and a box of beer in the passenger seat floor board. Police also learned his identity at the time thanks to citations found in the passenger seat issued by Bremen Police.
Following the traffic stop, police sought warrants for Escalante’s arrest. He was later found and taken into custody around 7:45 a.m. on Saturday morning, January 27.
He remained in custody without bond set as of this posting on misdemeanor charges of failure to maintain lane, obstructing law enforcement officers, driving without a license and nine counts of open container violation.
