Chase from Monroe County leads to manhunt in Macon

A chase that started after a traffic violation in Monroe County on Thursday afternoon led to a manhunt in an area spanning from Tattnall Square Park to the Pleasant Hill neighborhood. One of the two suspects was still on the run late Thursday.

The chase began on Interstate 75 southbound near mile marker 191 when a Monroe County sheriff's deputy saw a red truck with a Kentucky plate driving recklessly, failing to maintain its lane, Monroe County sheriff's Sgt. Lawson Bittick said.

The truck, with two men inside, did not stop and was chased by Bibb and Monroe county authorities as well as Georgia State Patrol troopers. The truck exited on Pierce Avenue then sped down Vineville Avenue at speeds between 50 and 70 mph. At one point, the truck was traveling in the opposite direction of traffic on the wrong side of Hardeman Avenue. The truck careened into a parking lot behind a business on Arlington Street, striking several cars and a dumpster before coming to a rest in an empty field, Bittick said.

One of the men, 30-year-old Adam R. Wiles, of Jacksonville, Florida, was arrested shortly after the crash. Wiles, who was a passenger, will be charged with possession of heroin, Bittick said.

The other man, later identified as 30-year-old Dewey W. Moore, of West Palm Beach, Florida, was still on the run Thursday evening after he fled the wrecked vehicle. Moore currently has an active arrest warrant in Florida by the U.S. Marshals Service for violation of probation, Bittick said. Both men have criminal histories.

Bottles of prescription pills, a spoon and several cell phones were among items taken as evidence from the crashed truck before it was towed away.

Mount de Sales Academy in Macon was on lockdown, which was lifted Thursday afternoon, a school official said. Several Bibb County public schools initially were placed on lockdown: Macon Charter Academy, L.H. Williams Elementary School, Alexander II Elementary School, Central High School, Miller Middle School and Vineville Academy, according to an email from Bibb schools spokeswoman Stephanie Hartley.

“All of the schools are continuing with supervised dismissal,” Hartley said Thursday afternoon.

Mercer University students and faculty are encouraged to be vigilant as the manhunt continues.

This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Chase from Monroe County leads to manhunt in Macon."