A Gainesville driver who didn’t stop at a DUI checkpoint, led police on a chase and allegedly tried to drown a state trooper was shot and killed Saturday, authorities said.
The violent confrontation in Hall County started about 8:30 p.m., after an SUV driven by 36-year-old Rodrigo Guardiola went through the road-check in Flowery Branch, according to a news release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The chase ended on Industrial Boulevard after troopers tried to box the SUV in and a patrol car collided with the SUV. That’s when Guardiola and passenger Epitacio Gudino, 31, ran from authorities, the GBI said.
They were caught about a mile away. Guardiola fought with a trooper and tried to drown him in a run-off creek, before two more troopers arrived to help.
One trooper fired a Taser, hitting Guardiola without slowing him down. The trooper then shot and killed Guardiola with his pistol, the GBI said.
Gudino was caught about 45 minutes later, according to the GBI.
Though the three officers were taken to a nearby hospital with injuries, they will be OK physically, Georgia State Patrol spokesman Capt. Mark Perry told Channel 2 Action News.
Mentally and emotionally, though, the troopers will need some time to heal and sort out the evening’s events, Perry said.
“I will say this, the troopers involved, I know them personally,” Perry said. “I know they have a strong faith in God and know that’s what’s going to take to get them through it.”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation will complete its investigation before turning the case over to the District Attorney’s Office.
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