COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — Coweta County Sheriff’s Department released video from a high-speed chase that happened on Interstate 85 late last month, which ended with the arrest of an Alabama man after he fled a traffic stop
Authorities said the pursuit on Aug. 27 began when Deputy Sheriff J. deSilva stopped Rodney DeWayne Hicks, 26, of Montgomery for a tinted tag cover and dark window tint.
Hicks was unable to produce a driver’s license and fled the scene, leading officers on a chase that reached speeds more than 120 mph, authorities said.
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deSilva said he detected the odor of marijuana coming from Hicks’ vehicle during the traffic stop. Hicks appeared to the deputy to be experiencing a panic attack, with rapid shallow breathing and shaking hands.
The deputy said told Hicks to sit on the front of the car, take deep breaths and calm down. But when the deputy sat in his car to try to consult the National Crime Information Center, Hicks got up, started running to his car and took off.
The deputy’s bodycam shows Hicks getting back into his car, the start of the high-speed pursuit.
The sheriff’s office said Hicks weaved in and out of traffic and drove in emergency lanes, posing a danger to other drivers.
Officials said Hicks also crossed all lanes of traffic to drive in the emergency lanes several times along both shoulders of the road at different points of the pursuit. He almost struck a white van while trying to drive around it into the right shoulder.
Other law enforcement and Georgia State Patrol units joined the pursuit. At about the 39 South mile marker, Hicks drove across the median and began to drive back north up I-85.
The chase concluded when law enforcement performed a successful PIT maneuver on Hicks’ vehicle at the 44 North exit ramp.
Hicks was apprehended and taken to Piedmont Newnan Hospital for medical evaluation following the maneuver.
Hicks is facing six charges, including fleeing/attempting to elude police office and reckless driving.
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