Police chase policies are once again at issue after Atlanta Police and the Georgia State Patrol chased--and then stopped--a suspected stolen vehicle through a residential neighborhood Friday morning.
"This was a by-the-book chase," said an Atlanta police spokesman, "police were doing their jobs" fighting crime.
According to Atlanta Police Officer Jarius Daugherty, Atlanta Police officers saw a woman driving a stolen car in the area of Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard NW and Jett Street NW Wednesday morning around 9:45. They tried to pull over the driver.
The driver sped away from officers, and they chased her.
The chase wound through the streets of northwest Atlanta's Bluff neighborhoods of Vine City and English Avenue. GSP troopers joined the chase, and a GSP trooper was able to stop the car using a PIT maneuver, at the intersection of Cameron Alexander Boulevard NW and Sunset Avenue NW, about a mile from where police first spotted the car. The car flipped over.
None of the law enforcement officers was hurt. The driver, Maria Rodriguez, was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in downtown Atlanta for treatment of an arm injury.
Daugherty said Rodriguez already had an active warrant for her arrest, for Failure to Appear on an earlier Theft by Taking vehicle charge.
Officials from the Atlanta Police Department and the GSP said they believe they were acting within their chase policies.
Some residents believe the chase endangered innocent lives in the neighborhoods.
"Fourteen cars coming from all different directions trying to stop the vehicle ... High speed -- I mean -- turning the car on two wheels," said one resident, Kim Todd. "I don't know what the person did, but I'm sure it did not warrant risking other people's lives in the neighborhood."
Atlanta Police Sgt. John Chafee did not immediately know how many vehicles were pursuing Rodriguez or how fast they were going over the course of the chase. He said that "pursuit-trained" officers were involved in the chase, and APD policy authorizes them to chase stolen vehicles.
The Atlanta Police Department's pursuit policy has recently been revised. The latest revisions were approved by Police Chief Erika Shields and went into effect on October 18, 2018.
"It's unfortunate that she [Rodriguez] made the decision to flee from our officers," Sgt. Chafee said. "It's very unfortunate that she would do that.... We are very fortunate that we were able to bring the chase to a conclusion, nobody else was injured in this."
Sgt. Chafee said it turns out that Rodriguez was already wanted in an earlier stolen car case when she was spotted, Friday morning, driving another stolen car, which had been stolen from someone in the city of Atlanta on Thursday.
In addition to the earlier charges, Rodriguez is now facing additional charges of theft by receiving, reckless driving, felony fleeing and eluding, damage to public utilities, interference with government property and unlicensed driver.
