High-speed chase ends in arrest of Albany man wanted for child cruelty

COWETA COUNTY, Ga. - A man on the run for two years and facing multiple counts of child cruelty is behind bars after a high-speed chase and a mad dash through a hotel lobby carrying a gun.  Deputies said Daniel Blakely refused to pull over and was driving over 120 mph in trying to getaway. 

Deputies said Blakely had been on the run for two years.  He was wanted in Albany, Georgia. on 26 counts of child cruelty.  He’d been on Dougherty County’s most wanted list since December 2017.

Bodycam video from the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office showed Deputy Dalton Anderson attempting to pull over Blakely’s car last week after he said a license plate revealed the owner was wanted on multiple warrants. 

Deputy Anderson said Blakely never stopped and during a high-speed pursuit speeds reached as high as 120 miles an hour.  

At the Fairburn exit on I-85, Anderson said Blakely hit a curb and blew out two tires disabling his car.  He then fled on foot to a nearby hotel where he was taken into custody.  Inside the breakfast area of the hotel, deputies discovered a handgun hidden in a cabinet. The hotel staff had alerted police that Blakely had run inside with a gun. 

Deputies said they found a bank bag full of cash on Blakely and in the car they also said they found more than $25,000 in a vacuum-sealed bag. A K-9 alerted deputies that the money was possibly used in a drug transaction. 

Blakely was being held here in the Coweta County Jail without bond.