BARTOW COUNTY, Ga. — (Editor's note: An earlier alert to this article incorrectly stated I-85 instead of I-75.)
A suspect is dead and another driver died early Monday morning in a series of wrecks that happened at the end of a police pursuit. It happened after what was initially called in as a suspicious person driving a possibly stolen vehicle, Calhoun Police Department said.
The incident began before 6 a.m. Monday morning and resulted in one crash with the initial suspect vehicle that caused another crash that killed a driver trying to swerve out of the way.
On Tuesday, the identity for the alleged suspect driver was released as 16-year-old Jonathan McEvers of Lafayette. The victim in the second crash was identified as 33-year-old Michael Stout of Ohio.
According to the Calhoun Police Department, the incident began with a call about the possibly stolen vehicle. When Calhoun PD officers responded to a RaceTrac and attempted to stop the vehicle, the suspect allegedly "fled from the units."
That individual drove east on Hwy. 53 and entered I-75 South at "speeds of 90+ mph," the department said. Calhoun PD said two of its officers were waiting along I-75 on GSP and county deputies to assist with the situation "when the offender vehicle swerved into Officer Azar's patrol unit, causing the offender to lose control of suspect vehicle and come to an uncontrolled stop on the northbound lanes of I-75."
Georgia State Patrol said in their own statement that Calhoun officers and Gordon County deputies were in pursuit when the suspect vehicle, identified as a Chevrolet Silverado, "moved to the right and made contact with the Calhoun Police Department patrol car."
"After this impact, the driver of the Chevrolet Silverado lost control, left the roadway and struck the guardrail where the pickup truck overturned and struck a Buick SUV traveling north on Interstate 75," GSP added.
The suspect was ejected from the vehicle at that point and died, police and GSP said. 11Alive SkyTracker flew over the scene in the early hours of Monday morning and observed an overturned car in the northbound lanes.
According to Calhoun PD, as this occurred, the suspect vehicle hit an oncoming car on I-75 North, causing a serious injury that required the victim to be life-flighted to a hospital. GSP said that was the driver of the Buick.
According to GSP, a secondary crash occurred at this time as a Toyota Corolla and Hyundai Genesis G70 were traveling on I-75 North. Both drivers of those cars "took evasive action to avoid the initial crash" and in doing so the Toyota "traveled off the roadway where it overturned and was truck by the Hyundai." The driver of the Hyundai died and the driver of the Toyota had injuries that were described as not life-threatening.
GSP is investigating the incident, Calhoun PD said.
"No further information is being released by the Calhoun Police at this time, pending the completion of the accident investigation," Calhoun Police Chief Tony Pyle said in a statement.
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