A Fort Oglethorpe police officer stopping for a tank of gas Tuesday morning ended up burning his fuel catching a hit-and-run suspect, officials said.

According to Fort Oglethorpe Police Chief Steve Blevins, officer Jeff Holcomb was filling his patrol car at the city gas pumps behind Fort Oglethorpe Fire & Rescue station 1 on Forrest Road when he heard tires squealing and saw a white Dodge Neon that had just rear-ended a vehicle on Forrest Road flee the scene of the accident.

Holcomb immediately pursued the vehicle into Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park, but wanted to avoid engaging the suspect in a high-speed chase, Blevins said.

“He was just trying to get close enough to get a tag number on the vehicle, and apparently the driver looked up and saw him,” Blevins said. “They never got in a high speed pursuit, but the driver just refused to stop. I think he was running because he was driving on a revoked license and had no insurance.”

The chase ended when Joshua William Forbis, of 95 Brookvale Lane in Ringgold, changed directions and drove back toward Ringgold, eventually jumping out of his car at M.E Arnold and Three Notch Road off Battlefield Parkway before the car coasted into a ditch.

Blevins said officer Holcomb followed the suspect into the woods behind a residence where he was arrested without a struggle.

Forbis, 21, is charged with reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, no proof of insurance and driving on a revoked license.

The chase, with speeds topping out at 50 mph, ended in less than 10 minutes when Forbis jumped from his vehicle, Chief Blevins said