A Mississippi man died Wednesday as a result of injuries sustained in a shootout months earlier with a Georgia sheriff’s deputy and a state trooper.
The shooting marked the end of a high-speed chase Dec. 18 that wound through two Georgia counties. The chase began in Polk County after an officer attempted to stop a truck that was speeding and “driving recklessly” on Piedmont Highway, according to the GBI.
The driver, who was identified by the GBI as 30-year-old Willie Lee Austin, did not pull over and a pursuit ensued, the state agency said.
At some point, the Haralson County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia State Patrol were asked to assist after the pursuit crossed county lines. The chase ended on U.S. 27 after a GSP trooper positioned his patrol car to disable the fleeing truck, commonly known as a PIT maneuver, GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said in a news release.
When authorities approached the truck, Austin accelerated toward a GSP trooper and Haralson deputy, Miles said.
“A GSP trooper and HCSO deputy fired into the truck, shooting Austin,” she said in the release. “Austin was taken to a local hospital for treatment.”
The state agency announced his death five months later.
A woman was also inside the truck at the time of the shooting and was not injured.
No officers were hurt in the incident, according to the GBI. The Haralson County Sheriff’s Office and GSP asked the GBI to investigate the shooting, the 95th officer-involved shooting the agency investigated in 2021.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also tracks officer-involved shootings that don’t involve the GBI, and those numbers sometimes differ from the GBI’s tally.
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