What started as an assault call led to a woman driving a U-Haul leading officers on a chase through southern Macon County and into Georgia, where the truck flipped on its side.
Franklin Police Department received a call around 3:41 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, to investigate an assault at the Mountain Energy gas station on the Georgia Road.
FPD Chief Devin Holland said the incident started when a gas station employee asked the woman to move the truck from a gas pump because she had been parked there about two hours. “She shoved the employee with the vehicle door,” he said.
Officer Logan Mack and Sgt. Jesse Henkel tried to communicate with the suspect, Bridget Reed of Dunwoody, Georgia, who was seated in a U-Haul box truck.
According to the FPD report, Reed ignored the officers’ commands to put the vehicle in park and drove off. Officer Mack began pursuing the truck near the Cook Out restaurant.
When the truck stopped in front of Ingles, the officers again commanded that Reed get out of the truck, but she continued traveling south on Georgia Road.
“FPD used a tire deflation device, which deflated one tire,” Holland said. As the truck crossed the state line, Georgia law enforcement picked up the chase. “Another law enforcement agency used the ‘PIT maneuver’ to end the pursuit.”
The PIT (Precision Intervention Technique) maneuver is when law enforcement intentionally nudges the target car with a pursuing patrol vehicle to force it into a controlled spin and stop.
The chase ended in Mountain City after Reed lost control of the truck and it rolled on its side, according to the FPD report.
The driver sustained minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital, then booked in the Rabun County Detention Center.
According to the Rabun County Sheriff’s Office, Reed, 37, faces charges of reckless driving (2 counts), fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer for a felony offense, failure to obey traffic light, and unsafe vehicle or equipment. Bond was set at $8,750.
Holland said FPD has pending charges of fleeing to elude arrest, resisting public officer (three counts) and simple assault.