Wrongway chase ends in fiery crash

NEWNAN, Ga. — A highspeed chase going the wrong way on a Georgia highway ended in a fiery crash that sent a woman and three children to hospitals, state police said.

The chase began when a trooper clocked a car going 118 mph on Interstate 85 southwest of Atlanta just before midnight Saturday, said Sgt. Katie Thompson of the Georgia State Patrol.

Trooper Lindsey Barber tried to pull the Fiat 500 over, but the driver left the highway, ran a red light and drove into an I-85 exit lane before continuing the wrong way in the emergency lane, Thompson told the Newman Times-Herald on Monday.

The chase ended when the driver hit a construction barrier. The car then spun into traffic, where a pickup truck knocked it into a guard rail, Thompson said.

Some passengers got out before the car caught fire but two were still inside. Barber doused the flames with her fire extinguisher to allow the others to escape, Thompson said.

The woman, who was in the front passenger seat, was airlifted to a hospital with severe head injuries and a broken leg and pelvis, Thompson said. Three children — ages 8, 10, and 11 — were taken by ambulance to a hospital. One child had a broken leg and injured spleen, and another had a head injury, and the third may have escaped injury, Thompson said.

Mario Anderson, 31, of Lawrenceville, remained jailed Monday on charges including three counts of child endangerment by drunken driving and three of serious injury by vehicle, authorities said.