Sand Mountain Reporter

Albertville resident Patrick Friday felt very fortunate Wednesday afternoon following the discovery that the man he described as “nervous and very jittery” was the escapee who had Marshall County law enforcement officials on pins and needles for approximately eight hours Tuesday and Wednesday.

Friday, a contract driver who delivers mail for the postal service, was transferring mail from his 18-wheeler trailer at the Guntersville Post Office when he was confronted by Tony Lee Zimmer, who followed him into the back of the trailer.

“He asked me if I would give him a ride to Albertville. But, I told him it was against company policy and I couldn’t do that,” Friday said.

Zimmer then asked if he could use Friday’s cell phone to make a call.

Friday said Zimmer told him he wanted to “call his girlfriend but couldn’t remember her phone number.”

Friday said, “He called his mother and I was able to overhear the conversation. He asked her to pick him up, but she told him she wouldn’t. Then he asked his mother for his girlfriend’s number, but she wouldn’t give it to him.”

It was Friday’s belief Zimmer had spent the night in a dumpster behind the post office.

At about the time Zimmer returned Friday’s cell phone another driver appeared, at which time Zimmer fled to the woods, and Friday who had become suspicious of Zimmer because “…he seemed to want to get out of there desperately,” called the Guntersville police.

Friday asked the dispatcher if they had anyone missing, to which the dispatcher answered no, but there was someone missing from the sheriff’s jail.

Friday’s call was then transferred to the sheriff’s office.

Friday said, “They asked me several questions then said they’d have someone there immediately. Fifteen seconds later a deputy showed up.”

Friday said other officers and a K-9 unit began arriving and went into the woods after the suspect.

He was unaware of what took place from that point, but Friday said, “Someone is watching over me.”

He added, “If I had known who he was and what had happened I might have acted differently.”

Friday also offered the observation that “I am thankful [Zimmer] is where he is supposed to be and not out where he can hurt someone.”

E-mail George Jones at boaz(at)sandmountainreporter.com.

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Serving Albertville and the Sand Mountain region

Publisher: Ben Shurett

1603 Progress Drive
Albertville, Alabama 35950

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