Crime & Safety

Wanted Person Nabbed After Nearly Striking Mailbox as Officer Watched

The woman later said her dogs made her swerve off the road.

A woman wanted out of Barrow County on a theft by taking charge landed in jail after inadvertently drawing the attention of a Winder Police officer.

The officer was patrolling on Georgia Avenue on Jan. 14 when the woman, later identified as Deronda Hartline, 47, of Bethlehem, swerved her red pickup and nearly struck a mailbox. After pulling Hartline over, the officer explained the reason for the stop and asked for Hartline's license. According to the incident report, Hartline searched for her license for "about five minutes" but was unable to produce one. She did, however, provide her name and date of birth.

The officer checked Hartline in the system and discovered she had a valid North Carolina license and an active warrant out of Barrow County for theft by taking.

After the warrant was confirmed, Hartline was taken into custody. Hartline was allowed to contact a friend to pick up her vehicle and her dogs. The dogs, Hartline reportedly explained, were the reason she had swerved off the road and nearly hit the mailbox.

Hartline was booked into the jail on the warrant and cited for failure to register her vehicle within 30 days, failure to obtain a Georgia driver's license within 30 days, failure to maintain lane and failure to signal.

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