NEW DETAILS: Suspect identified in officer-involved shooting, cross-county chase
LOWNDES COUNTY, Ga. (WALB) - Troopers with Georgia State Patrol (GSP) were involved in a multi-county chase on Saturday that followed an officer-involved shooting in Tift County.
The Tift County Sheriff’s Office requested the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) to conduct an independent investigation on Saturday.
At around 8 a.m., a deputy with the Turner County Sheriff’s Office tried to make a traffic stop on a car speeding down I-75 South, according to the GBI. After a short chase, the driver was identified as Nicholas Kemp, 39, of Indiana.
Kemp reportedly took an exit to Chula, Georgia, and drove to a Dollar General.
After attempting to ram the deputy, the deputy then reportedly began to fire shots at the car but did not hit Kemp.
The GBI said Kemp continued driving southbound on I-75. After the chase continued into Lowndes Co., a Lowndes County Sheriff’s deputy then tried to stop the suspect by using a PIT maneuver, however, the suspect avoided the move which then caused the Lowndes County deputy to flip his vehicle.
The deputy was injured when his vehicle flipped. He was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for a broken nose and dislocated arm.
The suspect then made it around a quarter of a mile away from the crashed deputy before they were pinned and stopped by other law deputies.
Kemp was arrested and charged with:
- Fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer for a felony offense
- Speeding
- Reckless driving
- Failure to exercise due care
- Aggressive driving
- Aggravated assault against law enforcement officer when engaged on improper/erratic lane change
- Three counts of improper/erratic lane change
- Failure to maintain lane
- Failure to keep in proper lane
- Fail to rpt striking fixed object
The GBI is actively investigating this incident.
According to the GBI, this is the 90th officer-involved shooting the GBI has been requested to investigate in 2023.
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