Long story short: Man escapes from a prisoner transport bus, two hours later is caught at a MARTA station.
I’m having a hard time deciding between whether if the prisoner was made dumber by being in the proximity of a MARTA station, or if MARTA is like a beacon of stupidity that draws its own kind like moths to lights. Either way, while perusing through the AJC’s website, when I saw the word “MARTA” in the headline, I knew it was going to be an instant classic.
The more intricate details are obviously lost on those who aren’t familiar with actual Atlanta and not a bad experience at the airport or getting stuck on the Connector while passing through en route to somewhere else. But basically, this prisoner escaped from the prison transport bus in a very “urban” part of the west end of the city (read: the ghetto). It was at this integral moment that he had a choice to make; go north or south, where he would have remained in the ghetto and probably been capable of remaining discreet or hidden for longer than two hours. Head west, where it would be more ghetto before it would ultimately lead out into a lesser populated part of the perimeter before ultimately becoming a little country. Or head east, towards the heart of the city where more people, more police, more eyes, and more security cameras would very well be.
Given the intelligence level of the common petty thug to begin with, it should be of absolutely no surprise that he decided to travel east. The best part about it was the fact that this whole time, he was still wearing his blue prison jumpsuit. Given the slummy wares that the people in the hoods here wear around here, some blending in might’ve been possible, but all it really takes is one person to have their suspicions aroused to contact the police. Considering that in the area where he escaped from the bus, there are homes with literally couches and refrigerators strewn all about their front patios, it’s surprising he didn’t rummage for like a hoodie or a Cosby sweater laying around to give him some camouflage or something, but then again, that’s assuming a slightly average intelligence.
Regardless, despite being a fugitive on the run, I would imagine the best course of action would be to remain out of plain sight, remain on foot or at least steal a private vehicle, and avoid going anywhere where there would be cameras. But instead, this guy marches to the North Avenue MARTA station, which I should mention is one of the busier stations in the city given the fact that it’s almost dead center of the city and near numerous tourist attractions and a major university, and is constantly within eyeshot of MARTA’s private security and Georgia Tech police, much less the usual Atlanta Police.
It’s hard for me to fathom that this guy actually thought he would be able to hop on a train and ride off to freedom that easily, but again, assuming average intelligence. Regardless, after being free for a whole two hours, he was caught, and will undoubtedly face a much larger jail sentence for escaping. The irony is that it’s not like he was a murderous felon or anything, he was in the clink for burglary and property damage essentially, but attempted escape is pretty much going to at least double his remaining sentence, but I’m not going to pretend like I know how it’s going to play out.
Anyway, even when they’re not trying, MARTA gets name-dropped in a story involving escaped criminals and associated with incompetence and inadvertently ironic stupidity. GG everyone, GG MARTA.
