City of Collegedale

Collegedale Police located Claude Finch III in an apartment in the East Brainerd area. After a short foot pursuit Finch was taken into custody a few minutes before 5 p.m.

Finch will be booked on his 3 felony charges before being transported to the Hamilton County Jail.

Collegedale, TN – On Tuesday evening, at 8:13 p.m., Collegedale police responded to reports of a sexual assault on the campus of Southern Adventist University.

Officers met with the victim, a student of the university, who informed them that she had noticed a particular vehicle in several locations around campus while she was out running. Stopping to rest the victim noticed the vehicle again. That was when she says she was grabbed from behind and sexually assaulted. The victim hit her attacker and ran to a school dormitory to call for help.

She described her attacker as a thin black male, around 5 foot 10 inches, wearing red sweatpants and a black hoodie. The vehicle was described as a red Chevrolet hatchback with tinted windows.

While speaking with the victim officers learned that another female victim had a run-in regarding a vehicle matching that description on Monday night and again on Tuesday evening. However, her reports were given to the Southern Adventist University Campus Safety Department and not forwarded to the police department.

Officers immediately began searching the area around the university’s campus, looking for the suspect or his vehicle. At about 9:00 p.m. officers spotted a vehicle matching the suspect’s driving on University Drive.

A traffic stop was conducted at College Drive East and Timberland Terrace. When officer’s made contact with the driver, described as a thin black male, wearing red sweatpants and a black sweatshirt, he informed them that he was a door dash delivery driver. Noting the matching descriptions of the driver and vehicle to the assailant in the area less than an hour before, the officer asked the driver to exit the vehicle.

It was at that point that the driver sped from the scene through the student housing section on Timberland Terrace and through a gravel lot back onto University Drive.

Due to the safety concerns of having people walking nearby on the sidewalks and around the buildings, the officer proceeded cautiously through and onto University Drive. Unfortunately the driver was already out of sight.

The investigation continued, with assistance from the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, and the driver was identified as Claude Abran Finch III, a 24 year old black male. Finch is currently wanted by the Collegedale Police Department for Evading Arrest and Reckless Endangerment; both felonies.

Finch is also a person of interest in the sexual assault that occurred on the university campus earlier in the night.

If you have any information regarding Claude Abran Finch III and/or his whereabouts please contact the Collegedale Police Department at 423-396-3133 or 423-622-0022.