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Intruder awakens south Forsyth man, asks for ride home
Suspect arrested after ditching stolen motorcycle along Ga. 400 and running away from deputies
Pittman Edward
Pittman

SOUTH FORSYTH — A south Forsyth man had a frightening encounter over the weekend with a theft suspect who entered his home in an attempt to elude authorities after ditching a stolen motorcycle along Ga. 400.

“I was lying in bed Friday around midnight. I live on the top story of a town house and had the lights off, and I heard footsteps and looked up and saw a guy in my bedroom, walking around pacing,” said Brian Skeoch, who lives at Summit Crossing near the Forsyth campus of Lanier Technical College.

“I thought I had to be dreaming … He came back into the bedroom, turned the light on and said, ‘Don’t move, don’t get up, don’t call the police.’”

What followed was a tense back and forth between the suspect, identified as 33-year-old Edward Charles Pittman of Marietta, and Skeoch that ultimately ended with the intruder’s arrest on a variety of charges.

Pitman made his initial court appearance Monday, according to Robin Regan, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office. He is being held without bond.

Pittman has been charged with theft by receiving a stolen motor vehicle, obstruction of a police officer, first-degree burglary and false imprisonment and was issued citations for defective or no headlights and for driving without a proper class of license.

The incident began about 11:30 p.m. Friday when Pittman ran through the woods away from sheriff’s deputies who approached him on Ga. 400 between McFarland Road and Peachtree Parkway (Hwy. 141), or Exits 12 and 13, as he was pushing a 2010 Kawasaki ZX6R motorcycle.

The motorcycle was later confirmed stolen out of Cobb County, according to sheriff’s reports.

After fleeing deputies, the report noted Pittman had approached a couple in the town home neighborhood as they got out of their vehicle, “saying that he was running from the police. [Pittman] asked them if they would hide him.”

The couple apparently went into their apartment and called 911.

When Pittman entered Skeoch’s unlocked home, he identified himself as “Eddie,” and mentioned he was hiding because deputies thought he had stolen a motorcycle, but he “didn’t do it.”

Skeoch said he was able to get Pittman downstairs to talk about the situation.

“He had the blinds shut and the doors locked, and his phone rings,” Skeoch said. “It’s his buddy. He put me on with him, and he said, ‘I will pay you whatever you want to drive [Pittman] back to Marietta.’

“I said, ‘Sure, but let me get some shorts and a shirt on, then we can go.’”

Skeoch said he was able to sneak his phone under his arm, went upstairs and called 911.

“The police were at my front door by the time I got downstairs,” he said.

Nothing in his home appeared to have been stolen or damaged, Skeoch said. However, a toilet overflowed after Pittman reportedly tried to flush his shirt down it.

Deputies found Pittman locked in the bathroom in the town home, according to Regan. They were able to detain him after he “initially failed to comply.”

“Deputies were told by witnesses he may have had a knife, but he didn’t have one on him at the time of his arrest,” Regan said. “This was an isolated incident and there is no danger to residents.”

Deputies waited with the motorcycle on Ga. 400 for its owner to arrive and take it home.