A trooper with the Georgia State Patrol was pulled to safety late Wednesday after his vehicle overturned in a creek, leaving him under water, following a crash during a police pursuit, according to investigators.
“The trooper became unconscious due to being submerged in water before being rescued by two Waycross P.D. officers who performed life-saving measures,” the State Patrol said in an email Thursday to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday, the trooper was assisting Waycross officers with a traffic stop in Ware County in southeast Georgia.
“As the suspect vehicle, a black Chevrolet Tahoe, fled from the scene, Waycross Officers and a GSP trooper pursued the vehicle,” the State Patrol said.
The trooper pursued the suspect, whose name was not released, before attempting a precision immobilization technique, or PIT maneuver, investigators said. The maneuver typically involves an officer’s vehicle intentionally making contact with a fleeing vehicle in an effort to spin it out and stop it. After performing the maneuver, the trooper’s vehicle traveled onto the shoulder of Swamp Road and then into a creek.
“His vehicle became partially submerged in the water while upside down, with the suspect’s vehicle sitting upright on top of the patrol vehicle,” the State Patrol said.
Officers pulled the trooper from the water and the suspect was arrested as he attempted to run from the crash scene, according to investigators. The trooper was flown to Memorial Health hospital in Savannah, where he is recovering from his injuries, the State Patrol said.
“The trooper is recovering and is in great spirits,” the State Patrol posted on Facebook. “Thank you all for your continued support, thoughts, and prayers.”
The Waycross-Ware County Development Authority was among those extending good wishes to the trooper during his recovery.
“We are incredibly grateful to the first responders and medical personnel whose swift actions made a difference in those critical moments,” the development authority said. “Your dedication does not go unnoticed.”
The harrowing encounter comes as the GSP and its pursuit policy are the topic of public debate over whether the agency’s aggressive tactics present unnecessary risk to Georgians.
An investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found the agency was involved in more than 6,700 pursuits over a five-year period ending in 2023. The AJC’s analysis of GSP’s pursuit record found the agency has one of the loosest pursuit policies among state law enforcement agencies nationwide; nearly half of its pursuits ended in crashes and resulted in more than 1,900 injuries.
The PIT maneuver was used in more than 2,000 chases from 2019 through 2023 by GSP troopers.
Police policy experts have raised concerns about the risk associated with police pursuits in general, as well as the use of the PIT maneuver.
A study by the Police Executive Research Forum released in September 2023 said police pursuits can place the public and officers at risk, in addition to the suspects fleeing police. The study encouraged agencies to move away from more permissive pursuit policies and enact more restrictive ones that limit the circumstances under which an officer can initiate a chase and require more supervisory oversight.
A Georgia trooper was killed in January 2024 in Gwinnett County after a motorcyclist fled from the officer at high speeds and the trooper lost control of his patrol vehicle and crashed.
--Asia Simone Burns contributed reporting to this story.
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