Kinny Bass,  was taken into custody on Thursday afternoon by law enforcement officers near Camp Jordan Park. The suspect was found hiding under a log near West Chickamauga Creek.

Law enforcement officers captured a man who crashed a car on Ringgold Road hiding along a creek near Camp Jordan Park, early Thursday afternoon.

The suspect, 32-year-old Kinny Bass of Homestead, Florida, was taken into custody at 12:06 p.m. as he was found hiding under a log near West Chickamauga Creek. Once in custody, Bass was brought out of a heavily wooded area by an all-terrain vehicle and taken to an ambulance for medical evaluation, officials said.

Bass was charged with Leaving the Scene of an Accident and Evading Arrest, officials said. Bass has no outstanding warrants from local authorities or in Florida, officials said.

East Ridge Police Chief J.R. Reed said officers from Catoosa County and Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department assisted in the three-hour search for the suspect. Reed said more than 50 law enforcement officers using K-9s, all-terrain vehicles and a drone scoured the rugged area around I-75 at the Georgia state line, the creek banks  and the 270-acres that comprise Camp Jordan Park.

Chief Reed said the heavy rainfall in the area last week made conditions in the marshy area difficult for law enforcement and their four-legged counterparts. 

Reed said that he wanted to thank the citizens who called in tips to police during the manhunt and the “diligence” of the assisting law enforcement agencies. 

The manhunt for Bass began Thursday morning at about 8:45, when he crashed a Dodge Journey registered to Rachel Millsaps of Fort Oglethorpe into a guardrail at the southbound on ramp of Interstate 75 and Ringgold Road, officials said. Initially, law enforcement officers were led to believe that Bass had carjacked the vehicle.

After crashing the vehicle, Bass  jumped from the SUV and fled on foot into a wooded area near Life Care Center of East Ridge. Chief Reed said at the time he did not know if Catoosa County Sheriff’s Department deputies were pursuing the vehicle when the crash happened. It was later determined that a Catoosa County Sheriff’s deputy was first on the scene of the vehicle crash.

In a statement released by ERPD late Thursday afternoon, It was reported to police from a passenger in the Dodge that a carjacking had happened in Georgia. During the investigation it was discovered that the incident was not a carjacking at all, but that Bass and Millsaps knew each other. Millsaps is now facing a charge of Filing False Reports.

Chief Reed said he would like to thank the officers of the East Ridge Police Department, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office and East Ridge Fire Department for the  fast and efficient assistance in the apprehension of the subject.

K-9 officers with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department assisted with tracking a suspect in the Camp Jordan area, Thursday morning.