Peachtree City chase ends in suspect's bizarre hide-and-seek caught on pet cam

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. - A Peachtree City chase ended with the suspect running into a random house and hiding things he did not want the police to find. The man denied doing anything in the home but was exposed by the family’s pet camera.

There was nothing unusual about the start of this chase, police said. When the blue lights turned on, the car driven by Nathan Smith took off, turned left, and almost got T-boned by highway-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 seemingly vanished, police say he later strolled from inside the home as if he had no idea why they were there. He is seen raising his hands questioningly in a gesture that seemed to ask, "What's up?"

Police say the homeowner's pet camera for her dog revealed what Smith had been doing inside the house: hiding his license and debit cards under the cushions of the woman's recliner and his keys under the dog’s bed. Police say he was trying to conceal his identity to appear as though he belonged in the residence and not to the car parked on the front lawn. The fact that the homeowner, an elderly woman in her 70s, came screaming from the home was one clue that he did not.

Police say they recovered bags of marijuana and cocaine along the roadway near the house.

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

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