A pursuit on a rural Georgia highway on Sunday ended in a way the trooper who started it presumably did not expect. The driver crashed, ran, and made an emergency aquatic escape. Not exactly a conventional end to vehicular pursuit.
According to the Georgia State Patrol and local agencies, the chase began just after noon on Sunday, May 24, when a trooper tried to stop a stolen white Subaru in Franklin County, Georgia.
The driver kept going. Speeds reached more than 100 mph along GA-328 before the car lost control in a curve and slammed into a guardrail. He then got out and ran. Instead of cooperating with police, he decided to instead dive into Lake Hartwell. That brought the chase to a swift end.
Officers eventually pulled him from a cove in Lake Hartwell with a boat. What had started as a routine traffic stop turned into a strange occurrence that necessitated a boat. But the man ended up in custody just the same.
The Crash and the Lake Jump
The Hart County Sheriff’s Office had a white 2017 Subaru Outback reported stolen from the area of Ridge Road and placed a lookout with surrounding agencies. Just after noon, a Georgia State Patrol trooper from Post 52 spotted the Subaru on Gerrard Road in Franklin County and tried to stop it. The driver fled, beginning a pursuit onto GA-328. It would go on to become a bizarre stunt rather than a pedestrian chase.
Speeds reached over 100 mph along GA-328, according to the Lavonia Police Department. Near mile marker 3, the driver lost control in a curve and ended up striking the guardrail. The car then came to a stop while straddling the southbound fog line. But things still weren’t over just yet.
The driver got out and fled on foot, then jumped into Lake Hartwell. While in the water, he swam toward the middle of a nearby cove. Hart County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Lavonia police set up a perimeter. Then, a Hart County deputy and a Lavonia officer used a nearby citizen’s boat to reach the suspect and bring him safely back to shore.
The Suspect’s Pending Charges
The suspect was identified as Shawn Austin Mays, a 29-year-old Lavonia, Georgia, resident. He was taken to St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital with minor injuries and is now in the custody of the Hart County Sheriff’s Office.
Hart County Sheriff Chris Carroll said Mays has been charged with felony theft by taking and felony entering auto. The Georgia State Patrol is filing additional charges of felony fleeing and attempting to elude, plus several traffic-related offenses.