Police officer makes traffic stop on transit bus to arrest shoplifter

By Joe Johnson

A police officer last week made a traffic stop on an Athens transit bus to arrest a shoplifter.

It happened the afternoon of January 5th when the officer saw a woman and her two sons boarding the bus on Old Hull Road, fitting the descriptions of people involved in a shoplifting incident at Dollar General on North Avenue.

Upon stopping the bus the officer removed the trio from the bus.

The 33-year-old woman told the officer that she tried to steal food items valued at $53 by hiding them in her purse, but when confronted by the manager she removed them from the purse and left the store.

The woman said that she tried stealing the food for her children because they were homeless and hungry.

The Dollar General manager wanted to prosecute the woman, so she was arrested and taken in handcuffs to the county jail.

The arrest report didn’t indicate what happened to the children, ages 12 e14.