Peachtree City chase ends with suspect’s bizarre hide-and-seek caught on pet camera

PEACHTREE CITY, GA. – A chase in Peachtree City ended when the suspect ran into a random house and hid things he didn’t want police to find. The man denied doing anything in the house, but was exposed by the family’s home camera.

There was nothing abnormal about the start of this chase, police said. When the blue lights came on, the car driven by Nathan Smith took off, turned left and was nearly rear-ended by high-speed traffic on SR 74 in the rain.

When the officer caught up, the car was in the front yard of a Peachtree City home and the driver was now on foot.

After Smith apparently disappeared, police said he then walked out of the house as if he had no idea why they were there. He is seen raising his hands quizzically in a gesture that seemed to ask, “What’s up?”

Police said the homeowner’s pet camera for her dog revealed what Smith was doing inside the home: hiding his license and debit cards under the cushions of the woman’s recliner and her keys under the dog’s bed. Police said he was trying to conceal his identity to make it appear he belonged to the residence and not the car parked on the lawn. The fact that the owner, a woman around 70 years old, came out of the house screaming was an indication to the contrary.

Police said they recovered bags of marijuana and cocaine along the road near the home.

They charged Smith with fleeing and eluding, burglary for entering the woman’s home, drug possession and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

They also charged a passenger, Sanchez Windfield, with allegedly throwing drugs out of the car during the chase.