A police pursuit for a move-over violation led to a rollover crash Wednesday morning on I-285 at Bolton Road that resulted in four people, including a 2-year-old, being injured.
The crash in Fulton County left the northbound lanes closed for hours and backed up traffic for miles.
According to the Georgia State Patrol, a trooper was finishing up a traffic stop on I-20 West around 10:15 a.m. when he saw another driver in a black Cadillac CTS fail to move over and then tried to stop that vehicle.
The vehicle did not stop, and a pursuit ensued and continued onto I-285 North, the State Patrol said in a statement. The driver, later identified as 32-year-old Gregory Smith, was allegedly driving “in all lanes of travel at a high rate of speed.”
The trooper eventually called off the pursuit when he lost sight of the vehicle and exited the interstate at Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, according to the GSP. When he got back onto the interstate, the trooper realized the vehicle had caused a three-car crash involving a silver Toyota Camry and a tractor-trailer before it struck a concrete barrier and overturned.
The occupants of the Toyota, three adults and a 2-year-old, were injured. Their conditions were not disclosed, but the child was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite Hospital.
Smith quickly got out of the crashed vehicle and ran into the wood line, the state agency said. He was found walking on Harwell Road and charged with fleeing, reckless driving, DUI, move-over violation, following too closely, serious injuries by vehicle, seatbelt violation and improper lane change.
Traffic cameras showed a large amount of debris strewn across the road, and at one point first responders were directing one line of vehicles around the pileup.
Traffic began moving again by 2:30 p.m.
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