CONYERS, Ga. — A police chase through two counties, reaching speeds of 134 miles an hour, ended with two car break-in suspects in jail and police looking for a third.
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Just after 3:15 a.m. Tuesday, Conyers police responded to a car break-in underway at the Comfort Inn on Klondyke Road at Interstate 20. The suspects sped off with an officer in pursuit.
Eight miles away, in DeKalb County, the car entered westbound I-20 from Panola Road. As the car merged onto the interstate, an officer used a Precision Immobilization Technique, or PIT maneuver. Dash camera video shows the officer tapping the rear driver’s side fender, causing the car to spin to the left and stop by the median wall.
Marco Harris, 19, and Anthony Dunn, 20, were arrested on the scene, but a third suspect ran away. The men are charged with entering an auto with intent to commit theft or larceny and firearms violations. Dunn is charged with aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer.
Conyers police Captain Quantavis Garcia said the men broke into 28 cars at three hotels in the city. Car break-in calls are a red flag for Conyers police.
“One, because we know any time there is an entered auto, there is a possibility – a high possibility – that a firearm will be stolen from the vehicle,” he said.
Police recovered five stolen guns from the suspects’ car, with four of them stolen from cars in the hotel parking lots.
“Firearms will then be pushed out to the streets and can land in the hands of a 12-year-old,” Garcia said.
Conyers police consider it a serious enough offense to warrant a pursuit if the suspects flee. Garcia said officers will not initiate a pursuit for minor traffic violations, but for serious crimes such as armed robbery, assault and homicide.
“If we initiate a pursuit for those types of crimes, and we realize conditions are too dangerous, the community is at danger, we’ll cancel the pursuit,” he said.
Garcia said officers determine the safest and most effective locations to conduct a PIT maneuver.
“When they decide to conduct a pit, they’ll think about the traffic conditions, the speeds, the road conditions,” he said. “You conduct a PIT maneuver, that is a use of force for us,” he said. “That’s a level of force that shows we mean business. There is no more running. This is the final stop here.”
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