A man fleeing from Brookhaven police on Saturday owes the officers pursuing him his life, authorities said.
Donald Jason Miles is in serious condition at Grady Memorial Hospital in police custody after running a car into a pole during a high-speed chase on Saturday, police said.
Miles was wanted by Sandy Springs police for allegedly carjacking a van last month on Ga. 400, authorities said.
Officers in Brookhaven late Saturday morning investigating an unrelated armed robbery noticed a Mercedes-Benz with a dog moving around inside it near the corner of North Druid Hills Road and Buford Highway.
Suspecting the car might be linked to their armed robbery investigation, officers ran the license plate of the vehicle, Brookhaven Deputy Police Chief Ron Freeman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The car registered as stolen, Freeman said.
“Before we could set up cars to surround the vehicle, (Miles) reentered the Mercedes and exited the parking lot,” he said.
When an officer got behind the car Miles was driving, police said he began to speed up, and officers gave chase, Freeman said.
But, “we lost him in unincorporated DeKalb County,” Freeman said.
Seconds later, officers approached to find that the stolen Mercedes had wrecked into a utility pole, police said.
“By the time an officer arrived, the car was fully engulfed in smoke,” Freeman said.
Three officers were able to pry open the passenger-side door of the car and pull Miles to safety, authorities said.
“Even though he ran from the officers and put them in danger, he owes his life to them for pulling him out of the car,” Freeman said.
Officers were also able to rescue the dog and take it to a nearby veterinarian for emergency treatment, Freeman said.
Miles already was accused of armed auto theft in Sandy Springs on Feb. 27.
According to Sandy Springs police, Miles crashed a BMW he was driving on Ga. 400, and pulled a gun on a pair of good Samaritans who stopped to help him.
He allegedly took the van that victim Gustavo Carmona was driving and left, authorities said.
A pair of semi-automatic weapons, a machete, ammunition and a gun bag were found in the wrecked car, police said.
No one was harmed, and Carmona’s van was later recovered.
Miles also has arrest warrants by Roswell and the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, police said.
In Brookhaven, he faces two counts of theft by receiving stolen property, fleeing and attempting to evade police, reckless driving and possession of a firearm by a felon.
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