A high-speed chase through Midtown ended Thursday morning when a car fell 30 feet down an embankment, landed on the Downtown Connector and burst into flames.
It took about 15 minutes from the time a trooper tried to pull over a white Mercedes sedan for speeding on Piedmont Road until the car became a fireball on the interstate, according to the Georgia State Patrol. The trooper reportedly clocked the Mercedes going 63 mph and initiated the stop about 3:15 a.m.
After a brief slowdown near Armour Drive, a spokesman for the agency said the Mercedes took off again headed south on the Buford Spring Connector.
The driver of the Mercedes eventually lost control on a curve before Peachtree Street and the car tumbled over the embankment, the spokesman said. The sedan fell onto I-75 North at the Brookwood split and caught fire.
The driver managed to escape and took off running before the car was fully engulfed, a witness told authorities. A photo a nearby driver shared with Channel 2 Action News showed huge flames and billows of black smoke.
All northbound lanes of the Downtown Connector were blocked at about 3:30 a.m. to put out the flames and clear the wreckage, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center. The lanes reopened about 5 a.m., but the ramp from I-75 South to I-85 North remained closed for another 30 minutes while authorities searched for the driver.
They found Colin Taylor Burnett, 27, injured and hiding out in a woodline near I-75. Initially, troopers thought they were looking for multiple suspects.
“After an extensive search of the area and through our investigation, it was determined Burnett was the driver and only occupant of the vehicle,” the spokesman told AJC.com in an email.
Burnett was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he is being detained Thursday morning. Authorities do not consider his injuries to be life-threatening.
He is facing charges of fleeing from an officer, DUI, speeding, driving with a suspended license and other related traffic charges, according to the GSP.
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