An overnight police chase through several metro Atlanta counties started with the carjacking of an 84-year-old woman and ended with a crash that flipped a bystander’s SUV on its roof.
State troopers were involved in the high-speed chase from Alpharetta into Clayton County late Thursday night. It all ended when a trooper positioned his car to stop the stolen vehicle, commonly known as a PIT maneuver, and both crashed.
East Point officers were the first to spot the vehicle, a black BMW SUV, after the 84-year-old woman reported it was stolen at gunpoint somewhere in Alpharetta, Georgia State Patrol Sgt. Stacey Collins told Channel 2 Action News on the scene.
They pursued the BMW south on I-20 toward the Downtown Connector, and Atlanta police and GSP joined in the chase about 9:45 p.m. The trooper caught up with the BMW after the vehicle exited the interstate at Mt. Zion Boulevard in Clayton County and got back on I-75 headed north.
The impact of the PIT maneuver sent the BMW into a silver Jeep Compass and the trooper’s patrol car into a guardrail.
“It overturned,” Collins said of the bystander’s Jeep. “There was one driver, a female, and she had just some minor complaint of injuries.”
One trooper suffered a minor injury to his wrist, he said.
Three teens jumped out of the BMW, and officers chased them across the interstate. Two jumped two walls and a fence into a commercial area before they were apprehended, but one made a daring escape.
According to Channel 2, the third teen darted across eight lanes of the interstate, dodging oncoming traffic, and got away.
After a search of the BMW, authorities found a stolen gun and another firearm.
The other two teens, who have not been identified by authorities, were arrested by Atlanta police in connection with the stolen vehicle, stolen gun and police pursuit. Alpharetta police are expected to bring charges on the carjacking once the investigation is closed, according to GSP.
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