There are cheaper ways to deal with a traffic ticket than turning a stop into a police pursuit.
Sandy Springs Police say Officer M. Gordon initiated the stop on Roswell Road near Sandy Springs Circle. Peter Gillan Wetche pulled his white 2025 Mazda CX-5 over near Johnson Ferry Road.
Gordon approached the Mazda.
Wetche drove away, turning the traffic stop into a pursuit.
Small Beginnings
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The Facebook post says the encounter happened Aug. 22. The department’s arrest report dates it Aug. 20.
Gordon wrote that he saw the Mazda commit a traffic violation before the stop. One citation charges Wetche with obedience to required traffic-control devices under Georgia Code 40-6-20. Its remarks read, “Red lane Roswells Road and Sandy Springs place.”
The pursuit ended when Gordon used a PIT maneuver to stop the Mazda, according to Sandy Springs Police. Wetche was taken into custody without further incident.
His second citation charges him with fleeing or attempting to elude police under Georgia Code 40-6-395. Its remarks say he “Failed to stop for emergency vehicle pursuit.”
The arrest report lists both offenses as misdemeanors, and both citations direct Wetche to Sandy Springs City Court on Oct. 7 at 9 a.m.
The vehicle report reduces the outcome to three words:
“Towed after PIT.”
The description is economical. The result was considerably less so.
The charges are allegations. Wetche is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
Why Run?
Of 5,568 pursuits reported by 115 law-enforcement agencies, 69% began with a traffic violation, according to BJS data. Speeding accounted for 16%, reckless driving for 13%, and suspected impaired driving for 12%.
Twenty-one percent began because someone in the vehicle was suspected of a felony, including 12% involving suspected nonviolent felonies and 9% involving suspected violent felonies. The agencies participated voluntarily, so BJS cautioned that the results were not necessarily representative of every pursuit nationwide.
NIJ found that most people who fled had not committed offenses that would ordinarily result in a full custodial arrest.
In interviews with people who had fled from police, 32% said they were driving a stolen vehicle, 27% had a suspended license, 27% wanted to avoid arrest, and 21% had been driving under the influence. Respondents could give more than one reason.
No Vote
The same BJS data recorded two serious injuries and 10 minor injuries for every 100 pursuits. Most lasted three minutes or less, yet 45% exceeded 70 mph.
Researchers examining federal crash data identified 5,425 fatal police-pursuit crashes and 6,352 deaths from 2009 through 2023. Documented speeding was involved in 77% of those crashes.
A driver may be trying to escape whatever awaits when an officer reaches the window, but everyone else caught in the chase gets no vote.