After Crash, Theft Suspect Takes a Hike, Saves Captors

Joseph Hall was on his way to prison--possibly for five years--when the patrol car he was riding in slid off the road in a heavy rain and rolled down an embankment.

The two deputies taking him to Georgia were hurt. But instead of running, Hall went for help--and broke his foot in the process by kicking out a window to escape the wrecked patrol car.

“I told the officers, ‘I’m going to get help. Please believe me. I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can,’ ” Hall told WTVC-TV in Chattanooga.

He may have saved the lives of Fayette County, Ga., deputies Bill Cooper and Steve Borders.

“He was their guardian angel,” Georgia State Trooper James McConathy said.

Hall, 23, was in jail in Carrollton, Ky., for driving without a license when officers ran his name through a national crime database to see if he had other pending charges. He was wanted for theft in Fayetteville, Ga.

Cooper and Borders picked Hall up Thursday and were outside Chattanooga near the Georgia-Tennessee line when their car hydroplaned, rolled down a 150-foot hill and stopped at a 45-degree angle.

Mike Borders said his brother recalls little about the accident.

“All he remembers was they were on the guardrail, then they were airborne and then he saw the trees coming toward him. He said he thought that was it,” Borders said.

“It didn’t seem like we were ever going to quit rolling,” said Hall, who was riding in the back seat. “I smelled gas and knew I had to get out of there.”

Hall, who wasn’t handcuffed, said he kicked out a window and crawled through. He reassured the trapped deputies and climbed up the briar-covered embankment to get help.

In the dark and rain, Hall walked about a quarter-mile trying to wave down a motorist. Someone called 911 and Hall flagged down the ambulance and led them to the car.

Hall, of Cynthiana, Ky., about 30 miles north of Lexington, said he and Cooper rode in the same ambulance and the deputy “kept on telling me, ‘Thanks.’ ”

Cooper, 54, was in critical condition Saturday morning at Erlanger Medical Center. Borders, 47, who was in fair condition, suffered a concussion and swelling to the right arm and left eye.

Hall was taken into custody by Dade County, Ga., sheriff’s deputies, who held him until two more Fayette County deputies picked him up Friday.

Escaping never crossed his mind, Hall said. He said the charges against him weren’t serious enough to flee and he couldn’t abandon two injured people.

“I’m just glad I got them out of there safe,” he said.

Hall said the theft charge stemmed from an incident about a year ago when he took some tools from a former employer who wouldn’t pay him.

“He got all his tools back,” Hall said, but an arrest warrant was issued after Hall failed to appear in court on the charge.

Hall faces one to five years in prison. Fayette County Sheriff Randall Johnson said he will try to make sure Hall receives credit for assisting the deputies.

“For helping us out, we’ll probably try to talk to the people about his case,” he said. He did “a good deed.”