Just hours after a former Atlanta City Council member called for authorities to reign in police chases, a man died in a wild police chase that included an early morning stop at a Buc-ees in Calhoun.
On April 18, 2025, former Atlanta City Council candidate Devin Barrington-Ward, a spokesperson for the National Police Accountability Project, was among those angry and pushing for reforms after a Little Five Point bystander was killed during a Georgia State Patrol (GSP) pursuit. The suspect, a 23-year-old woman, was wanted for minor drug and traffic offenses.
The recently updated DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson allows more pursuits and greater use of the precision immobilization technique, or PIT maneuver.
At almost the same time, a 35-year-old Cookeville man kidnapped an Atlanta woman and a 10-year-old child, held them at gunpoint, and forced her to drive him to Nashville.
According to the GBI, when the vehicle stopped at Buc-ee’s, the person with the suspect ran into the store to hide and asked employees to call 911. When officers with the Calhoun Police Department arrived and attempted to speak with the suspect, he allegedly fired a shot in their direction before carjacking a customer and fleeing northbound on Interstate 75.
Whitfield County Sheriff’s deputies later spotted the car and attempted to stop it. The suspect reportedly fired at deputies while driving. Shortly after, he fatally shot himself and crashed the stolen vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office.
Police Chases: A Bird’s Eye View
Questionable police shootings dominate the headlines. But the number of shooting-related deaths and serious injuries pales in comparison to the number of chase-related deaths and serious injuries.
Frequently, the victim is a passenger in the suspect’s vehicle, a pedestrian crossing the street at the wrong place and at the wrong time, or another innocent bystander.
Sometimes the victims are criminal suspects or even wanted felons. Understandably, there’s some element of “they got what they deserved” in these situations. However, regardless of our politics, we can probably all agree that evading a police officer shouldn’t be a capital offense.
Many law enforcement issues are “crossing the line” matters. For example, when police officers arrest suspects, officers don’t have to be gentle. In fact, courts consistently overlook de minims injuries caused by an officer knockdown or tight handcuffs. However, at some point, officers cross the line.
The same thing is true of police chases. As they pursue suspects, officers don’t have to obey speed limits, stop at red lights, or follow other rules of the road. However, at some point, they cross the line. The location of that line varies according to several different factors. More on that below.
Atlantans are familiar with this issue. In December 2020, APD interim Chief Rodney Bryant banned high-speed chases unless pursuing officers had direct knowledge that the suspect may have committed a “forcibly felony” and the suspect poses a clear and present danger to public safety.
Less than a year later, Chief Bryant reinstated the policy, with some alterations, citing the unprecedented level of violence in the city.
Police Chases: Specific Issues
Moreover, some people point out the greatly diminished need for high-adrenaline, cops-and-robbers chases. Instead of tagging suspect vehicles with GPS tacking devices or using other such technology, officers resort to more violent methods, such as the controversial PIT maneuver, the aggressive tactic with a misleading name.
The PIT maneuver (precision immobilization technique) is basically an intentional car crash. A pursuing vehicle pulls alongside the fleeing vehicle so that the portion of the pursuer’s vehicle forward of the front wheels is aligned with the portion of the target vehicle behind the back wheels. The pursuer hits the target’s side, then sharply steers into the target, forcing it off the road.
That sounds fine and well, but the PIT maneuver doesn’t account for simple physics. The extreme motion spins the fleeing vehicle around in a sweeping arc until its position is reversed, with its front bumper suddenly facing the rear. At high speeds, such sudden lateral movement often causes rollover collisions.
Several recent incidents in nearby Arkansas illustrate the danger. In June 2020, a pregnant woman, who was at the time searching for a place to pull over, was the target of a PIT maneuver. As part of a legal settlement with the driver of the car, the Arkansas State Police agreed to improve training and restrict the use of the PIT maneuver and use it only in cases to “protect a third person or an officer from imminent death or serious physical injury.”
The additional training apparently had little effect. In September 2023, an Arkansas State Trooper resigned after performing a PIT maneuver on the wrong vehicle during a high-speed chase. In March 2025, one passenger died and 3 were injured after Arkansas State Police performed a PIT maneuver during a chase on Interstate 40.
Criminal Court Issues
Officers who injure or kill people in the line of duty, especially if the death or injury is an “accident,” almost never face the music in criminal court, at least at the state level.
Georgia’s official immunity doctrine usually applies in these cases. This doctrine gives police officers and all other government employees almost unilateral decision-making power, if the matter is discretionary. The law also sharply limits immunity for ministerial tasks.
For example, the decision to put (or not put) a stop sign at a corner is a discretionary task. Maintaining that stop sign (clearing brush, repairing vandalism damage, etc.) is a ministerial task.
A federal action under Title 18, Section 242 (deprivation of civil rights under color of law) may be an option in some circumstances, if federal prosecutors decide to take the case. Largely depending on which way the political winds are blowing, a Section 242 case may never make it to court. If they get this far, they are difficult to prove, especially in the police chase context.
Federal prosecutors must prove, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the officer willfully deprived another person of their his/her rights, privileges, or immunities, which in this case is the right to live and the right to use the street. Additionally, the officer must form that intent before the case begins.
Willfully is one step lower than maliciously. Once again, regardless of our politics, we’d probably agree that police officers often get carried away and cross the line. But they rarely, if ever, deliberately set out to hurt people in police chases.
Civil Court Issues
So, if police chase survivors are looking for justice in criminal court, they’re probably out of luck. A partnership with a Marietta personal injury lawyer is a much better option. Compensation is usually available in these cases if the officer was reckless. Some factors to consider include:
- Severity of Alleged Offense: The first point may be the most important one. In this context, an alleged offense is usually a forcible felony, violent crime, or nonviolent crime. Police chases are usually acceptable in the first case, questionable in the second one, and marginal in the third.
- Danger Level: The two chases in the above stories illustrate this point. If police recklessly pursue a nonviolent suspect at high speeds during the day in a crowded residential area, busy commercial shopping area, or congested highway, they’d better have a very good reason for doing so. As the danger level drops, perhaps if the suspect is wanted for a forcible felony, recklessness becomes harder to prove.
- Anti-Case Policy: Some law enforcement departments have very strict anti-chase policies, such as the 2020 APD policy. Softer policies, like the one currently in place, have so many loopholes they’re almost meaningless. A Marietta personal injury lawyer also looks for dispatcher instructions, especially clear, objective ones, like “break off pursuit” or “do not pursue.”
Compensation in a police chase or other personal injury matter usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. Additional punitive damages may be available as well, in some extreme cases.
Police officers, like everyone else, must act within the law. For a free consultation with an experienced Marietta personal injury lawyer, contact The Phillips Law Firm, LLC. We routinely handle matters in Cobb County and nearby jurisdictions.
