HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — Major repairs are needed on a metro Atlanta interstate after a fiery wrong-way crash in Henry County that killed two people Tuesday morning.
Police said the 2-mile chase started when the driver of a stolen car rammed a patrol car.
Channel 2's Christian Jennings spoke with both Henry County and McDonough police. McDonough police said the men who ended up crashing a stolen Mazda on I-75 broke into five cars at a Holiday Inn Express Monday night.
Because of a tracking device in the Mazda, Henry County police spotted the men at a hotel on Mill Road Tuesday morning. Police said the driver rammed an officer's car and that's when a chase began.
Police said the driver got off at the Jodeco exit, turned around and got back on I-75 north -- only this time going the wrong way on the interstate. Detectives said he hit a pick-up truck head-on around 2 a.m. Their cars caught on fire and both drivers died.
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The driver of the stolen car was identified as 19-year-old Adolphus D. Knight. The driver of the pick-up truck was identified as 38-year-old Kalif B. Patterson of South Carolina.
Sheniah Strapp had no idea that the traffic she sat in on I-75 north Tuesday morning was caused by the crash.
“That is so sad. Why can’t people just pull over when they see the blue lights. It’s crazy,” Strapp said.
According to Chamblee police, the Mazda was stolen only a couple hours earlier, at 11:30 p.m. Monday night, at a BP gas station on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Chamblee.
The car's owner told police he left his keys in his car for just a couple minutes so he could run inside. When he got back, the car was gone.
Troopers said there was someone riding in the passenger seat of the Mazda when it crashed. That person is recovering in the hospital.
Cox Media Group
