The Georgia State Patrol on Monday identified a driver killed after a Thursday night chase and a wrong-way crash on I-85 in DeKalb County.
Gabriel L. Evans, 37, of Decatur, was attempting to run from state troopers when he began traveling the wrong way on I-85 and crashed head-on into another car, the GSP said. Evans and his front-seat passenger, whose name was not released Monday pending notification of next of kin, died. Two other people, including the passenger in the backseat of Evans’ vehicle, were injured.
State troopers tried to pull over Evans’ 2002 Saturn SL, but he refused to stop, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. At some point, the Saturn got onto the ramp for southbound I-85.
“Near the top of the ramp,” GSP Sgt. Stacey Collins said, “the trooper executed a PIT maneuver,” a tactic that essentially involves bumping a vehicle in an attempt to stop it.
The Saturn stopped and the trooper exited his patrol car and ordered the driver to put up his hands. The driver briefly complied.
“Then the driver of the Saturn fled that scene and drove the wrong way on I-85 southbound,” Collins said. “So he drove northbound in the southbound lanes.”
The trooper did not follow the Saturn, the GSP said. However, the trooper drove down the ramp and kept track of the Saturn from the northbound lanes, the agency said.
The trooper later spotted the Saturn, which had crashed head-on into a black 2012 Infiniti G37. The woman driving the Infiniti, Lisa Jackson, 52, of Alpharetta, sustained only minor injuries and was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, according to the GSP.
The passenger in the backseat of the Saturn was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where she was being treated for serious head injuries.
Traffic was shutdown temporarily Thursday night near Clairmont Road, according to Channel 2 Action News.
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