ATLANTA — Two people are dead and at least three others injured after troopers say a SUV ran through a red light trying to get away from police in northwest Atlanta.
The crash happened on Northside Drive and 14th Street after 2:30 a.m. Thursday after police tried to conduct a traffic stop at 17th Street.
Suspects in a white Toyota RAV4 drove away on Northside Drive and failed to stop at the red light. The RAV4 crashed into a Mitsubishi Outlander.
The driver and front-seat passenger of the Outlander died in the crash. Georgia State Patrol identified them as Uber driver Guillermo Bracho Barrios, 39, and Gemini Jerome Jackson, 27.
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Three people sitting in the backseat of Barrios’ SUV were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. Their names have not been released.
The suspects in the RAV4 also were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital with serious injuries. Their names have also not been released.
Channel 2′s Tom Jones spoke with a man who says he saw the crash.
“It was smashed up like a soda can,” Jason London described. “Just a few moments earlier,...it could have been me.”
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Roads in the area were closed but re-opened after 6:30 a.m. The crash remains under investigation.
Atlanta police released the following statement about the crash, stating that no chase took place.
“The APD officer initiated a traffic stop of a white Toyota Rav 4, for a traffic infraction. Blue lights were activated in an attempt to stop the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle engaged the right turn signal, as if the driver was going to stop. The vehicle abruptly accelerated and traveled through an intersection, striking a Mitsubishi Outlander. From the initiation of the attempted traffic stop to the crash, is approximately 37 seconds.”
Georgia State Patrol has not commented on what charges will be filed in this case.
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