College Park sergeant hit 100 mph in chase, left deadly crash, police say
A former College Park police sergeant is behind bars after he allegedly caused a crash last month that killed two people and then failed to stop, his arrest warrants state.
Donnie Smith Jr., 47, began a pursuit of a 2009 Land Rover on I-285 near Riverdale Road on Aug. 17, according to investigators. That’s when he hit speeds of more than 100 mph in a police department Ford Explorer moments before the crash, officials determined.
Smith allegedly watched as the Land Rover left the road, struck a tree and split in half, his warrants state. Two people inside were ejected and died from their injuries. But Smith left the scene without reporting the crash, according to investigators.
On Aug. 22, Smith was fired from the College Park department, according to the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council. He had been hired as an officer in 2011 and promoted to sergeant in 2021, records show.
The Clayton County Sheriff’s Office investigated the deadly crash, and on Tuesday arrests warrants for Smith were secured. He was charged with vehicular homicide, hit-and-run, failure to report a crash, violation of oath of office and reckless driving and booked into jail, where he was being held without bond Thursday, records show.
“Sgt. Smith witnessed a fatal collision he was involved in and continued past the scene without rendering aid or reporting the collision,” his warrant states. “Driving away from the accident of the vehicle he was pursuing shows evidence of his gross negligence and willful wanton misconduct.”
The names of those killed in the crash were not publicly released. But Deolisa Benton told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday that her son, 34-year-old Mathew Benton, was the passenger. She doesn’t know the woman who was driving, she said.
Deolisa Benton only learned recently about the pursuit.
“The police report just indicated it was a crash,” she said.
She is grateful investigators charged the officer, but still doesn’t know why Smith pursued the Land Rover. Smith’s arrest warrants do not indicate why he initiated the pursuit.
Georgia law states officers can “exceed the maximum speed limits so long as he or she does not endanger life or property.” Investigators believe Smith was reckless in the pursuit.
Smith previously worked for the Georgia State University Police Department and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, records show.
His arrest comes one month after a former Georgia State trooper was convicted in a 2015 crash that killed two teenagers.
Anthony “AJ” Scott was in uniform, but he wasn’t on his way to a call and neither the siren nor the blue lights on his patrol car were on, according to investigators. Scott was still driving 66 mph as he collided with a small sedan carrying four teenagers in Carroll County, investigators determined.
Scott’s 2019 trial ended in a mistrial. Nearly 10 years after the crash and now a small-town mayor, he faced a jury once again.
On Aug. 27, he was found guilty on five of six charges, including two counts of serious injury by vehicle, one count of vehicular homicide, speeding and reckless driving. Scott will be sentenced Wednesday.
— Data specialist Jennifer Peebles contributed to this article.
