A former employee of a local car dealership was arrested Wednesday afternoon on multiple felony charges after he allegedly broke a window at the dealership, stole a car and led police on a high-speed chase.
Thomas Lee Quinn, 44, who lists a Sunbay Road address, was taken into custody around 1 p.m. and charged with felony counts of theft and burglary, both punishable by three to 10 years in prison, and felony counts of criminal mischief and fleeing, both punishable by up to six years in prison. Quinn was being held on $12,000 bond.
According to the probable cause affidavit, around 11:30 a.m., Hot Springs police Officer Juan Diaz responded to a burglary at Orr Nissan, 4111 Central Ave., for a burglary.
A manager at the dealership told Diaz he noticed a broken window around 9:30 a.m. at the back of the building. While checking around the dealership, the manager found three sets of car keys belonging to different cars and a brown 2015 Chevrolet Impala were missing.
Diaz reviewed the security footage with the manager and saw a man break the window around 12:42 a.m. that morning and entered a room where the manager said vehicle keys are stored. Additional footage of the rear of the building showed the man wearing a "puffy jacket and backpack," the affidavit said.
The manager said the suspect could be an ex-employee, identified as Quinn, who had been fired for previous thefts at the dealership and threats toward employees. Another employee agreed with the manager that it was Quinn "by the way he walked, the items he had with him, and physical description of his body," the affidavit said.
Around 12:45 p.m., Diaz contacted On-Star for a possible location on the stolen vehicle, and he was told it was traveling north on Central Avenue near Pakis Street.
Diaz located the car at the light at Werner Street and Central, and the license plate returned on a black 2012 Buick. The vehicle turned on Werner toward the King Expressway and began to accelerate "at a high speed," and Diaz then attempted to initiate a traffic stop at that time.
The vehicle then got on the expressway, accelerating to "speeds of approximately 100 mph," the affidavit said, before taking the Airport Road exit. The affidavit said the vehicle continued along Airport turned down Freeman Street until it reached a dead end, and the driver, later identified as Quinn, began to flee on foot into the woods.
Quinn eventually stopped fleeing before laying on the ground, "where he began to bang his head on the ground" causing "minor scratches and bleeding," and he was then taken into custody.
Officers located three sets of keys in the vehicle, and a photo of them was sent to the dealership, which identified them as the stolen keys.