Sunday morning, at approximately 11:02 a.m. a vehicle was stolen from Dollar General. After issuing a BOLO, an officer attempted a traffic stop on the vehicle, resulting in the suspect fleeing and hitting another vehicle head on.

Jarvis Anderson borrowed his sister’s car to take to Dollar General. When he returned to the parking lot, he found her car had been stolen. Anderson told officers he left the keys in the vehicle, because he was just going in to get one small thing and parked at the front of the store. He said he didn’t notice anyone standing around or looking suspicious.

BPS officers tried to review video footage, but Dollar General had no exterior cameras. They took down the information on the vehicle and put out a BOLO, also requesting that Pass Time GPS locate and disable the car.

Later that afternoon at approximately 12 p.m., Captain Tim Mixon requested public safety units to meet him in the area of Collier Street and Shotwell Street, because he had found a vehicle matching the description. Mixon turned on his emergency lights to perform a traffic stop, however the vehicle fled and struck another vehicle head on near Hardees.

When they approached the fleeing suspect, they identified the driver as Mark Strops. The accident investigation was then handed to GSP Trooper Joshua Stark, who will also help investigate the criminal charges related to the accident.