ROME, Ga. — A an early Sunday morning traffic patrol in Rome involving a party at a club ended up turning into a high-speed chase after a possible drunk driver took off, running multiple red lights.
Eventually, the chase reached speeds of more than 100 miles per hour before the driver, later identified as Carlos Uriostiqui, stopped at a dead end and took off on foot.
Officers ended up using a Taser to bring him into custody and found drugs in his pockets at the Floyd County Jail. Uriostiqui faces 14 charges.
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The Rome Police Department said the incident happened around 1:29 a.m., when patrol officers noticed a driver leave a club next to a Dollar Tree in a white car and failed to stop at a stop sign, then suddenly stopped in the middle of an intersection on North Broad Street.
Uriostiqui is accused of crossing over dashed white lane markings and drifting between lanes.
After shifting between lanes multiple times, police said Uriostiqui kept slowing down and stopping erratically.
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When an officer turned his alert lights on and attempted to pull him over, Uriostiqui sped off and ran through a red light, kicking off a pursuit.
During the chase, officers noted the car continuing to weave across lanes until the driver remained in one lane, just before driving over a median and running another red light, this time on Turner McCall Blvd.
Police said the driver eventually hit a speed of roughly 64 mph, then continuing onto East 1st Street.
After running another red light, police said Uriostiqui turned onto Broad Street but was driving the wrong way and running another red light at 5th Avenue.
The chase continued, reaching speeds of 80 mph on Harvey Street, then even faster hitting 95 mph while passing the Floyd County Jail.
Rome police said Uriostiqui ran another red light before nearly losing control of his car and accelerating to 121 mph, “narrowly avoided a rear-end collision” before starting to slow down on Dempsey Road.
As Uriostiqui turned his vehicle, police said smoke started to come off of the right rear tire due to skidding and he briefly lost control of the car, almost driving off hte road before continuing on.
That’s when two Floyd County Police vehicles took the lead in the pursuit until Uriostiqui stopped his car at a dead end.
Rome police were still following behind and arrived at the dead end as Uriostiqui “bailed and ran” from the car. Officers from Floyd County and Rome police chased him, eventually using a Taser to subdue Uriostiqui. The man fell in gravel and got a small cut on his hand, so medical personnel were called to check him out.
While trying to speak with Uriostiqui, officers noted that he had watery eyes, was slurring his speech, could not walk steadily and his breath smelled of alcohol.
There were two bottles of alcohol on the passenger side floor of Uriostiqui’s car, as well as a handgun, all of which were recovered by Rome police.
Searching the man, officers found only a wallet and an empty medical syringe and a company came to tow his car away.
After Uriostiqui was taken to the Floyd County Jail, a further search found two small bags of methamphetamine, two hydrocodone pills and a glass smoking device in an inner pocket of his jacket.
The items were all taken as evidence by the Rome Police Department and Uriostiqui was charged with possessing a firearm during the commission of a crime, two counts of possession of a Schedule II controlled substance, fleeing police, possessing drugs as an inmate, two counts of obstructing law enforcement, driving under the influence, reckless driving, failure to maintain lane, failure to obey traffic devices, turning in a center lane, driving the wrong way and driving with a suspended or revoked license.
He was denied bond, according to jail records, and remains in custody in Floyd County.
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