Posted: Wednesday, September 2, 2009 10:29 am

A Murfreesboro man is being held in Catoosa County Jail after authorities said he held a cab driver at knifepoint and forced him to drive 100 miles to Ringgold, Ga.

Steven Frazier Knowles has been charged with aggravated assault, kidnapping and theft.
Knowles was taken into custody when a Catoosa County firefighter spotted him with a thermal imaging camera late Monday night.

He is accused of kidnapping William Boller, a driver for City Cab Co., 1120 W. College St.
About 6 p.m. Monday, a Boller picked up Knowles in Murfreesboro at Howard Johnson motel for a ride to the Nashville Airport.

Boller told Murfreesboro Police that once in the cab, Knowles said he needed to pick up his brother in the Buchanan area.

At some point between the motel and Buchanan, Knowles allegedly pulled a knife on the cab driver and told him to drive to Chattanooga.

Shortly after 10 p.m. as they traveled south on Interstate 75, Knowles told the driver he was thirsty. The driver pulled into a Kangaroo gas station near Ringgold and stopped.

Boller then ran into the station and behind the counter and employees called 911.

Knowles chased Boller into the store but fled when an employee hit the store's panic button to alert police.

Knowles surrendered to Catoosa County police about an hour later after he was located hiding in the dark still armed with the knife. He is being held in Catoosa County.