A man was arrested Saturday after police said he fled from a Georgia State Patrol trooper in a stolen Mercedes-Benz and crashed into a HERO unit on an Atlanta interstate.
Investigators said they also found a half-dozen handguns in 26-year-old Eric Deshaun Flemister’s possession after they finally caught up with him on the side of I-85. He faces numerous charges, including fleeing and eluding, according to Atlanta police.
The investigation kicked off earlier in the day after a 2015 Mercedes-Benz GLA was stolen on Noble Creek Drive in northwest Atlanta, the police department said in a statement. The vehicle was added to the national crime database.
About 5 p.m., officers said they spotted the stolen SUV in the parking lot of Lenox Square on Peachtree Road. The officers surveilled the Mercedes for “several hours” until a suspect, later identified as Flemister, walked up to it, got inside and drove off, police said in the statement.
When a trooper working in the area spotted the vehicle and tried to stop it, Flemister took off down the road, police said.
He got onto I-85 South and kept driving, according to video footage of the chase recorded from a police helicopter. The video shows the Mercedes slam into the back of a HERO unit that was stopped in the far right lane before the driver leapt out of the SUV and sprinted toward a wood line on the side of the interstate.
Atlanta police officers in the area caught up with Flemister and took him into custody, authorities said. During his arrest, police said they found six handguns, including one reported stolen during a May 20 vehicle break-in.
Flemister was booked into the Fulton County Jail. In addition to fleeing, he is being held on charges of theft by receiving stolen property, reckless driving and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
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