Authorities are searching for a man they say took off from a traffic stop, crashed into a DeKalb County gas station sign and then ran from the scene.
Channel 2 Action News reported that a 7-year-old girl was ejected from the man’s car during the crash and was left behind.
The incident happened about 7:20 a.m. Monday at a Texaco on Gresham Road, according to the Georgia State Patrol.
A GSP trooper was attempting to pull the man over on I-20 near Memorial Drive, but as the officer tried to make the stop, the driver allegedly faked pulling over and drove away.
The trooper then chased the driver on I-20 eastbound before he lost track of him.
The driver sped off in a 2011 Audi on the I-20 exit ramp to Gresham Road, jumped the curb, crashed into the gas station sign’s pole and knocked it down, Channel 2 reported.
“The trooper was unable to make the exit ... but noticed smoke, moved over to the shoulder and backed up to the Gresham Road exit,” the GSP said.
Surveillance footage shows the Audi flipped over, narrowly missing an SUV, before crashing.
The girl was taken to a hospital, but her condition was not given. The relationship between the man and the girl was not released.
As for the sign, repairman Mike Johnson has his work cut out for him.
According to Channel 2, the sign costs $20,000 to fix. Johnson installed the original sign, according to the news station.
“In 18 years, I've never seen it snap like that,” Johnson said, “It takes a torch to cut through it (for 30 to 40) minutes. For it to hit that hard, that's pretty amazing.”
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