A 30-year-old Lithonia man is sitting in jail without bond after Coweta County deputies say he led them on a chase that topped 115 mph on Interstate 85, ending with two firearms and a stash of ecstasy pulled from his vehicle.
The chase unfolded along the same stretch of I-85 that has become a hotspot for extreme-speed pursuits this year, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. Deputies took the man into custody and booked him without bond, and the outlet reports he had two firearms in his vehicle along with ecstasy at the time of his arrest.
It's unclear exactly what triggered the initial stop or what prompted the man to flee, and the total quantity of ecstasy and the specific types of firearms recovered have not been detailed publicly. His prior record, if any, also remains unknown.
Georgia Law Piles On Felony Exposure
The legal stakes for a chase like this one are steep under Georgia law. Fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer becomes a felony carrying one to five years in prison and a mandatory $5,000 fine when a driver exceeds the speed limit by more than 30 mph while trying to escape an underlying felony arrest, according to Georgia law.
The firearms found in the vehicle add another layer of risk. Under state law, possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony drug offense triggers a mandatory five-year prison sentence that must be served consecutively to any underlying felony term, meaning it cannot run alongside other prison time. Ecstasy, or MDMA, is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance in Georgia, and simple possession alone is a felony punishable by two to 15 years in prison for a first conviction, since Schedule I substances are defined as having a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use.
Part of a Pattern on I-85
This is far from an isolated incident along Coweta County's stretch of I-85. On June 25, deputies chased a BMW that reached 138 mph before using a tactical box-in maneuver to stop an 18-year-old driver, as FOX 5 Atlanta reported at the time. Two weeks later, on July 9, deputies pursued a Ford Focus exceeding 140 mph after a 21-year-old driver panicked and fled, mistakenly believing deputies were pulling him over rather than another car; that chase ended with a PIT maneuver.
The corridor has also seen deadlier and more heavily armed encounters. On June 29, a traffic stop near mile marker 34 turned fatal when an armed motorist opened fire on deputies, who returned fire and killed the driver — a shooting that prompted an independent investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. And on August 3, a 34-year-old motorcyclist hit 140 mph on I-85 before colliding with a deputy's patrol car and being arrested on drug and fleeing charges.
Other cases this year have combined speed with heavier firepower. Back in February, deputies arrested two men following a chase exceeding 100 mph that led to felony charges including drug trafficking, fleeing, and possession of a machine gun, according to WSB-TV. In March, a chase began after a deputy simply smelled marijuana smoke coming from a passing vehicle, and in July, an 18-year-old fleeing in a stolen vehicle drove into oncoming traffic in a crowded Newnan retail district near the interstate.
Taken together, the string of incidents underscores how often Coweta County deputies are confronting drivers willing to push speeds past 100 mph — and sometimes past 140 — on a highway that cuts through both open interstate and dense commercial areas. The Lithonia man's arrest adds another entry to that growing list, with the added weight of Georgia's mandatory sentencing rules now hanging over his case as it moves through the courts.
