SNELLVILLE, Ga. — Snellville police say a department drone helped officers safely arrest an armed suspect accused of pointing a gun at a woman and damaging her vehicle.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Investigators say 33-year-old Calvin Millbrooks pointed a gun at a woman he knew Tuesday before smashing her car window with a rock and fleeing in a blue SUV around 1 p.m.
About two hours later, officers located Millbrooks at a home. Before approaching, one of the department’s certified drone pilots launched a drone to monitor the property from nearly 200 feet in the air.
Police said the drone allowed officers to confirm Millbrooks was sitting in a chair inside an open garage and that his hands were empty before they moved in to arrest him.
“Without the drone, we would’ve been going in blind. We may not have even known that he was in the garage,” Lt. Trey Downs with the Snellville Police Department said.
Body camera video shows officers approaching the garage with guns drawn before ordering Millbrooks to the ground.
Police said Millbrooks never realized officers were watching him from above. Investigators later found the gun they were looking for inside a bag strapped across his body.
“We saw him come out, saw him sit down in the chair, saw him playing on his phone, and we knew that was the right time to go and make the arrest,” Downs said.
The Snellville Police Department launched its drone program three years ago.
“Us standing up the drone program was probably a game changer,” he said.
Millbrooks is facing three charges and remains in the Gwinnett County Jail without bond.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Deadline approaches for Amazon Prime settlement claims
- 6 adults trapped on the Chattahoochee River
- I-20 reopens after 17-vehicle crash sends 9 to hospitals
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]