A Macon man fleeing state troopers was killed Saturday morning when the pickup truck he was driving crashed and caught fire, authorities said.
According to the Georgia State Patrol, the chase began about 12:30 a.m. when a trooper tried to stop a white Ford F-150 for speeding on Riverside Drive near I-75 in Macon. Authorities said the driver, identified as Angelo D’wan Martin, was clocked going 72 mph in a 45 mph zone.
“The driver refused to stop, and a pursuit ensued,” GSP spokeswoman Franka Young said in an emailed statement.
Authorities said Martin turned left on Corbin Avenue and right onto North Nancelon Circle before losing control and slamming into a tree, trapping him inside the pickup. The truck caught fire after the crash. Troopers used their fire extinguishers and tried to pull Martin from the burning vehicle, but couldn’t get him out, authorities said.
“The extraction attempt was unsuccessful as the vehicle became fully engulfed,” Young said, adding Martin was pronounced dead at the scene.
In a Facebook post, the Georgia Department of Public Safety said there was no contact between the trooper’s patrol car and Martin’s truck prior to the fatal crash. The 35-year-old had lived nearby, Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones told the Macon Telegraph.
Saturday morning’s crash came less than a week after a man fleeing state troopers for a suspected seat belt violation broadsided a car stopped at a DeKalb County intersection, killing a 60-year-old man. The driver who fled police faces several charges in the deadly wreck, including felony murder and first-degree vehicular homicide, authorities said.
