Car flies over ramp as another GSP chase caught on camera
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Twice in a month, the News 12 grounds were impacted – literally – by a Georgia State Patrol pursuit.
One on Dec. 9 ended with a GSP car slamming into our sign and bursting into flames, then another on Dec. 24 ended with a vehicle slamming into our fence.
The driver wasn’t caught after either chase.
The latest chase happened just minutes into Christmas Eve, and the end of it was caught on video.
It unfolded after GSP troopers pulled into the parking lot of a Circle K at 2631 Washington Road to fuel up at 12:04 a.m.
In front of them, a gray Jeep Cherokee was also being filled up. Someone inside it opened a back door and took out the gas nozzle before the driver sped off, “leaving the parking lot in a reckless manner,” GSP said.
WHAT ARE THE RULES?
- GSP mostly lets troopers decide when to launch a high-speed chase.
- Officers are supposed to consider several factors, including the nature of the offense and the potential danger to the public if the suspect isn’t caught right away.
- A recent federal report urges agencies to reduce high-speed chases, allowing them only after a violent crime has just happened or the threat of one is imminent.
Troopers took off after it, but the driver failed to stop, going west on Washington Road and then getting onto eastbound I-20, according to GSP.
About a mile later, the Jeep exited I-20 toward Riverwatch Parkway.
Dramatic security video shows it crossing the off-ramp, a grass divider and then the on-ramp, briefly going airborne and then slamming into a metal fence around the TV station, according to GSP.
BY THE NUMBERS:
- Statistics show GSP pursuits have increased over the past five years, including 1,673 in 2022 alone.
- The U.S. Department of Transportation says pursuits that turned deadly increased 41% from 2001 to 2021.
- During that period, 8,203 people died; 493 of those were from Georgia. Of those killed nationally, about 36% were innocent bystanders.
The driver and a enger with a book bag jumped out and ran off, and troopers took off after them, ed by Richmond County deputies.
This was also caught on camera.
Three engers were eventually booked into Richmond County jail, but the driver was never found, according to GSP.
An investigation revealed the suspects had four guns – one of them stolen – along with scales and a pound of marijuana, according to GSP.
The Dec. 9 chase also started on Washington Road.
A trooper took off after a Mustang was traveling 81 mph in a 45 mph zone and chased it onto Alexander Drive, picking up speed while traveling north.
The trooper weaved around several cars, then barrelled through a red light at Riverwatch Parkway, where Alexander becomes Cabela Drive.
After traveling past Riverwatch, the GSP car hit a concrete median, then a curb, then left the roadway and slammed into the station’s stone sign that features an animated display.
The patrol car burst into flames but the trooper wasn’t seriously hurt.
The Mustang’s driver wasn’t caught.
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