A dozen police vehicles responded to a high-speed chase initiated on northbound Georgia Highway 67 just outside of Statesboro and ending on South Main Street where three suspects were arrested in a stolen vehicle at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The chase began when Cpl. Rey Rodriquez of the Bulloch County Sheriff's Office attempted to make a traffic stop of the vehicle, according to Trooper 1st Class Marvin Welch of the Georgia State Patrol. Vehicles from the sheriff's office, the State Patrol and the Statesboro Police Department attempted to follow and cut off the suspects from multiple directions as they made their way down Fair Road before turning north on South Main Street.
According to a news release issued Wednesday morning by the sheriff's office, the vehicle, which had been reported stolen from Savannah earlier Tuesday, "drove in an extremely reckless manner, crossing into oncoming traffic, passing vehicles at a high rate of speed and ignoring all traffic signals."
While other deputies joined in the pursuit, Statesboro police vehicles stopped traffic at intersections in the line of pursuit, Sheriff Lynn Anderson said in the release.
The chase came to an end as the stolen vehicle spun out of control into the hedges surrounding Advanced Chiropractic & Wellness at 317 S. Main St., across from Sonic.
Anderson said Rodriguez was one of several deputies who was certified about a year ago in the Pursuit Intervention Technique maneuver, which is a controlled collision in which a deputy makes contact with a vehicle to safely end a dangerous pursuit. Rodriguez initiated the maneuver on South Main Street at Mikell Street, and the stolen vehicle was brought to a stop, the sheriff said.
No one was injured in the incident.
Three people inside the vehicle were arrested and taken to the Bulloch County Jail. Dionysisus Trammelle Hearns, 19, of Cordell Street in Savannah, was charged with theft by taking-motor vehicle and felony theft by receiving stolen property; Jesse Tyrone Sanders, 23, of Buchan Road in Pembroke, was charged with theft by taking-motor vehicle and felony theft by receiving stolen property; and Dominic Manwell Williams, 19, of 33rd Street in Savannah, was charged with speeding, driving without a valid license, aggressive driving, failure to maintain lane, fleeing and attempting to elude police, theft by taking-motor vehicle, felony theft by receiving stolen property and three counts of failure to obey traffic control device.
Anderson said the sheriff's office is working with Savannah-Chatham Metro Police regarding the stolen vehicle. He added that based on evidence found after the pursuit, deputies think the suspects intended to commit other crimes in Bulloch County.
"Sheriff Anderson would like to commend Cpl. Rodriguez for the recovery of the stolen vehicle and for the way in which he conducted the pursuit," the sheriff's office news release says. "Sheriff Anderson would also like to thank the Statesboro Police Department and Georgia State Patrol for their assistance in the pursuit."