One man is in the hospital following a late night high speed chase with police that ended when he wrecked his motorcycle on State Route 365 in Demorest. Georgia State Trooper 1st Class Aaron Church says the unidentified suspect fled from Rabun County authorities when they attempted to pull him over for not having a tail light. Church says he picked up chase as the motorcycle passed by Tom Bowen Road at GA 15 in Hollywood. He says at one point during the chase he clocked the motorcycle going over 120mph. “I attempted to stop him. He refused to stop and we chased him all the way down here to just south of Demorest-Mt. Airy Highway when he ran into a patrol car and flipped over.”
Trooper Church says the motorcycle clipped a patrol car driven by Officer Jordan McKay of the Clarkesville Police Department. He says McKay was part of a rolling road block when the accident happened. “As he (the suspect) was coming up at a high rate of speed the patrol cars had their lights activated and stuff doing a road block. It appeared he was going to try to shoot in between them. One officer moved over to the right shoulder in order to avoid an accident and the motorcycle went to the right at the same time trying to pass him on the shoulder, he locked it up, flipped over and hit the patrol car.”
The motorcycle and driver came to rest on shoulder of Hwy. 365. Close to a dozen emergency responders and law enforcement officers converged on the scene. Both southbound lanes of the highway were closed for nearly an hour as the suspect was taken away and the scene cleared. The road reopened shortly before 12:30am on Monday.
The suspect was taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center by ambulance. Trooper Church says he was alert and did not appear to have any serious injuries. He says the suspect refused to talk to authorities.
Church says the investigation revealed that the motorcycle was stolen. The suspect faces possible charges in connection with that as well as felony fleeing and eluding and numerous traffic violations.
Clarkesville Police Chief Brad Barrett says his department will conduct an internal review into Officer McKay’s involvement in the accident once the Georgia State Patrol investigation is complete. “GSP will turn their findings over to us,” Barrett says. “From what I know thus far I don’t see any wrongdoing on his part.” Barrett says internal reviews are standard procedure anytime there is an officer-involved accident.
