Georgia Police Pursuit Ends in Wreck

ELLENTON, Ga. -- A Colquitt County teen faces charges of attempting to elude an officer and driving under the influence following a Friday night chase that ended with him wrecking an SUV.

Thomas Michael McKellar was hospitalized at Archbold Memorial Hospital following the chase that ended when he overturned a Ford Explorer in a Colquitt County Sheriff's Office deputy's yard, sheriff's reports said.

An officer answering a call at about 7:42 p.m. Friday saw a white Explorer in front of him cross the center and white lines on the side of the road several times on Cool Springs Road, the reports said.

After the deputy turned on the blue lights to stop the SUV, the driver slowed to less than 40 miles per hour for some time before accelerating, with the officer following at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour. When the driver of the Explorer went through a stop sign at Cool Springs Road and Ellenton-Norman Park Road, the officer slowed to clear the intersection.

When he accelerated again he could not get sight of the fleeing vehicle, the reports said. At that time the deputy called in notifying officers that a vehicle had crashed in his yard.

McKellar, who apparently was thrown from the vehicle which came to a stop on its side, was unconscious in the yard with an apparently serious leg injury, the reports said, and he was transported to the Thomasville hospital. He later was notified of the charges and a blood sample was taken.

McKellar, 19, 573 C.M. Chafin Road, was charged with DUI, fleeing or attempting to elude an officer, failure to maintain lane, no seat belt, open container, reckless driving, running a stop sign and speeding.

The crash destroyed the front steps of the deputy's residence in the 5800 block of Cool Springs Road, the reports said.

Copyright 2012 - The Moultrie Observer, Ga.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service