Peachtree City Police arrest path bandit; how safe are the paths in PTC?

12
2315

The Peachtree City Police recently released a statement on social media about an attempted robbery that took place in June on the path behind the Renew Braelinn Apartments. With their full investigation complete, including DNA evidence collected from both the robber’s mask and their suspect, they arrested Terrence Truitt, 19, of Peachtree City on January 13, 2025 and charged him with Criminal Attempt to Commit Robbery.

What happened on June 14, 2024 at 6:30 p.m.? According to Lt. Chris Hyatt, the female victim, who had been walking along the path, noticed the teenage suspect seemed suspicious, but didn’t think too much about it. Until he grabbed her from behind, in an effort to steal her cross-body bag. He didn’t get her bag. Instead, she grabbed the mask off of his face.

The suspect fled on foot toward Balmoral Village Apartments. While officers saturated the area, according to Lt. Hyatt, they didn’t find the suspect. So they began looking at security footage in the complex. And they found a person of interest.

The PTC Police put out a photo on social media of a witness that they wanted to speak with. The suspect and his mother called the station to self-identify after the footage come out.  Lt Hyatt said that during the interview with the suspect, it became clear that he was more than just a witness. They got a search warrant for his DNA, after he refused to voluntarily give it.

Peachtree City PD was pleased that the GBI turned their DNA evidence around so quickly, even though it was a case where the victim wasn’t injured or killed.

That leads us to a deeper question . . . how safe is the multiuse path system in Peachtree City?

Our multi-use path system is perfectly safe,” said Lt. Hyatt. We do not have a pattern history of violent crime. I’ve been a law enforcement officer here for 18 years, and I’ve never heard of this before.” Lt. Hyatt referenced several cases of incidents that were reported, and then later proven to be false, but very few actual cases, considering, “we have a hundred miles of multi-use path system.

He continued, “It’s difficult to be everywhere all the time. But through our diligent efforts, I could say that we do not have violent crime on our cart path system. Our biggest concern is young drivers of golf carts, motor vehicle collisions, traffic complaints, all the typical things that come with motor vehicles. But as far as violent criminal behavior, we do not have a problem with that in our city.

In order to make sure this path bandit situation was cleared up quickly, Peachtree City brought out patrols including foot patrols, ATV patrols, and saturating the area to find someone matching the description. Lt. Hyatt wants both would-be criminals and the public to know that they are unlikely to get away with it in Peachtree City “for the general deterrence and the public perception that we’re aware and putting boots on the ground to address the problem.

12 COMMENTS