Police: Driver killed as he sped away from hit-and-run crash, cop

A 22-year-old Atlanta man died after striking a concrete pole early Saturday while trying to escape a police officer who witnessed him hit a van minutes before, Gwinnett County police said.

Just before 3:30 a.m. Saturday, an Audi R8 struck a Chevrolet Express that was stopped at a light in the northbound left turn lane on South Norcross-Tucker Road, according to an accident report obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The driver of the Chevrolet, who was not injured, said the driver of the Audi, identified in the report as Jason Lam, sped away from the scene.

An officer who saw the hit-and-run tried to stop Lam, who “evaded” the officer and “continued to travel at a high rate of speed,” according to the report.

Lam was driving westbound on State Route 8 toward Bellewood Oak Drive when he lost control of the Audi, slid sideways and hit a pole. He was ejected from the car and died at the scene before emergency personnel arrived.