Several sheriff’s detectives credit high-in-the-sky technology for saving their lives early Saturday morning as they combed through thick underbrush looking for an armed suspect who put up a fight with Tyrone policemen minutes before.

In the dark of night, the department’s tracking team was on their hands and knees working through the thicket behind the BP gas station on Ga. Highway 74 and Tyrone Road. They had no way of knowing how close they were to the armed suspect.

Scout, one of the bloodhounds, was “going crazy” signaling the suspect was nearby, said Det. Aaron Fenimore. But a wall of thick brush was directly in front of the tracking team.

Hawk 1, the department’s helicopter, hovered overhead in the dark using an infrared camera to look for the suspect.

All of a sudden the team’s radios crackled with a warning. Hawk 1 spotted the suspect a few yards away from the officers.

Instantly, the tracking team clicked off their flashlights, worried they might become targets for the suspect to shoot at.

Hawk 1’s camera lost the suspect briefly, but picked him back up. The heat given off by his body gave a clear view of his location, said Lt. Col. Bruce Jordan, head of the Sheriff’s Department’s Criminal Investigations Unit.

After a brief struggle ensued, the suspect was subdued and handcuffed, police said.

Although the suspect didn’t have his gun when he was arrested, it was found about 20 feet away from where the struggle occurred when deputies went back to search the area in daylight, detectives said.

Without the warning from Hawk 1 that the suspect was nearby, the situation could have deteriorated quickly, said Detective Brian Lee.

“I feel like we’d have gotten ambushed,” said Detective Brian Lee.

“I believe there would have been a death somehow,” Fenimore added.

Since the suspect wasn’t from the area, Lee speculated he might have resorted to violence such as a carjacking or home invasion in an effort to get back home.

“He wouldn’t have hitchhiked,” Lee said.

The suspect’s gun had been reported stolen from DeKalb County, said Tyrone Police Chief Johnny Hay.

The suspect was identified as Robert Anthony Senior, 23, and he was charged with a laundry list of offenses including speeding, giving a false name to a police officer, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm while committing a crime and theft by receiving stolen property.

Police also found suspected drugs in Senior’s car including “a large amount” of suspected cocaine and some marijuana, Hay said. That led to additional charges of possession of drugs for distribution, drug trafficking and possession of schedule I and schedule II drugs.

Senior was granted a $28,190 cash bond, but he was ultimately released on a $55,550 property bond.

Jordan said more serious charges might be taken out against Senior, and the department was working with Tyrone police and the Fayette County District Attorney’s Office on the matter.

The car Senior was pulled over in was a rented 2006 Chevy Equinox, Jordan said. It is typical for persons ferrying drugs to use a rental car, Jordan added.

A video of the traffic stop showed Senior struggling with the Tyrone officer who initially pulled him over for speeding while a second officer drew his gun on Senior. After a few seconds, Senior wriggled his way free and dashed off into the woods. The combined aerial and ground search ensued.

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