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Wrong-way driver leads police on high-speed chase, terrifying other drivers, police say

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — A wrong-way driver on I-575 led police on a high-speed chase, narrowly missing other drivers and police.

The incident happened Wednesday night at Exit 8 on Town Lake Parkway around 9 p.m.

The driver, identified as 23-year-old Zachary Bowers, refused to pull over and nearly crashed into a police car before driving the wrong way up a ramp into oncoming traffic. A Georgia state trooper managed to stop the suspect a couple of exits down and tased him as he tried to escape.

David Hughes, who was on the way home from his son's baseball game, captured part of the chase on a mirror-mounted camera.

"It’s maddening this kind of thing happening," said Hughes. "The guy had his flashers on going about probably 40 miles per hour in the wrong direction. I had enough time to process what was happening and got off into the emergency lane."


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Bowers was later found holding a gram and a half of meth, according to investigators. Police said he even drove on sidewalks before driving the wrong way up the exit ramp.

"Plenty of mayhem behind me in the rear view. Folks going everywhere; so incredibly poor decision making on his part," said Hughes.

After getting off the exit ramp, Hughes said he spotted a woman who apparently was a passenger in the suspect's car.

"There was a lady laying in the middle of the ramp and a police who was parked next to her," said Hughes. The witness said Bowers put a lot of lives in danger.

The suspect was jailed on numerous charges, and the woman in the car did not suffer any serious injuries.