Cross-Dressing Fugitive Arrested

By Pat Peterson Reporter

Gender-bending criminal arrested in Florida Panhandle after assaulting sheriff's deputy, stealing patrol car...all of it caught on tape Cross-Dressing Fugitive Arrested

Published: Thu, March 20, 2008 - 5:55 pm

Pat Peterson

Customer's at Brown's Grocery in Holt are still talking about the cross-dressing prisoner who pepper-sprayed a Georgia sheriff's deputy and then made a break for freedom.

"I thought it was a boy, I mean a girl," says Holt resident Martha Holland. "Whatever, it looked like a nice, little lady, didn't it? Then it turned out to be a boy crook!"

Eugene Smith was arrested Thursday morning while hitch-hiking along Highway 90 in Santa Rosa County. Smith had spent the night on the run after over-powering a Georgia sheriff's deputy, nearly running him over and then stealing his police cruiser. The Georgia deputy was transporting Smith from Houston back to Georgia on identity theft charges. The officer had stopped at Brown's Grocery in Holt for a bathroom break when Smith made his wild escape.

"I never thought something like this would happen," says Jimmy Gallani, owner of Brown's Grocery. "It was wild. I heard that the deputy unlocked his handcuffs to make him more comfortable on the long drive, I guess he trusted him too much."

The deputy fired several shots at Smith but the cross-dressing criminal was able to get away. His freedom was short-lived, however. Smith is back in police custody tonight facing several felony charges.