Dramatic video shows crash ending to high-speed car chase in Atlanta

A high-speed chase on Atlanta’s Downtown Connector ended when the man behind the wheel slammed into a highway emergency response truck. 

Seconds later, he took off running.

Lauren Lucia was riding in her friend’s car on the way home from work on Saturday evening when the chase flew by. 

"We were listening to music completely focusing on the road, and then all of a sudden you just see this black Mercedes GLA 250 completely almost hit us on the side," Lucia said. "He smashed his car, the Mercedes, into a roadwork truck and completely jumped out the car and ran towards the woods."

She captured the moments that followed on her phone. 

"He ran, turned around, and ran back into the interstate back into moving traffic," she recounted. "[The police] got out of their cars and started running after him and they completely jumped on top of him. Like threw him down to the ground in front of the moving traffic."

Aerial video from the Atlanta Police Air Unit shows the moment the car slammed into the highway emergency response truck.

Police identified the suspect as 26-year-old Eric Deshaun Flemister. They said officers spotted the stolen 2015 Mercedes Benz GLA near Lenox Square and waited for whoever had the keys to get into it.

They said that person was Flemister.

A Georgia State Patrol trooper caught up with the Mercedes, but at that point, police said he fled. 

After the crash, Lucia’s footage showed the suspect led into a police car in handcuffs. The Mercedes was still smoking from the crash. 

Police said they found six guns on Flemister, including one that was reported stolen in a recent car break-in. 

He was charged with theft by receiving stolen property, reckless driving, fleeing and eluding, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. 

Flemister is currently in the Fulton County jail.

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