A chase from Helen to Blairsville came to a crashing end last Wednesday night as a Georgia State Patrol Trooper maneuvered his vehicle into a fleeing red Dodge Charger, causing it to flip upside down onto a grassy stretch between Burger King and Circle K on Murphy Highway.
Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies were on the scene immediately to take the driver, Alfredo Cailao Ginaga, into custody at gunpoint without further incident shortly before 8 p.m. on Feb. 26.
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Ginaga, 31, of Homer in the North Georgia county of Banks, is facing a slew of charges brought by GSP, including a felony for fleeing or attempting to elude police officers across two counties.
He has also been charged with misdemeanor DUI (drugs, less safe), speeding in excess of maximum limits, driving on the wrong side of an undivided street, reckless driving, failure to stop at a stop/yield sign, passing in a no-passing zone, failure to report striking a fixed object, failure to report an accident with injury/damage, and failure to maintain lane.
Additional charges are expected from Helen PD.
At press time, Ginaga remained in custody at the Union County Jail with a $14,000 bond. He is presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.
The chase began after 7 p.m. when the Helen Police Department attempted to pull the vehicle over for a traffic infraction in White County, but the driver refused to stop, according to Blairsville Police Chief Michael “Bear” Baxter.
Helen PD pursued the vehicle over Richard Russell Scenic Highway into Union County.
UCSO Sheriff Shawn Dyer received word about the pursuit and was waiting for the Charger at the intersection of Richard Russell and Georgia 180. He tried but failed to block the car’s path, with Ginaga evading the sheriff using the shoulder.
“I gave him the least amount of room he could get, but he got out in the grass and went around me,” Sheriff Dyer said.
GSP caught up on GA 180 to take the lead as Dyer transitioned to the secondary position in the chase that continued toward Gainesville Highway.
The trooper attempted an unsuccessful “PIT maneuver” when the line of vehicles reached Gainesville Highway, and the Charger took off north toward Downtown Blairsville.
Anticipating the chase route, the Blairsville Police Department successfully deployed tire-deflating “Stop Sticks” at the Shoe Factory Road intersection of Gainesville Highway, popping the tires of the fleeing vehicle to slow Ginaga’s progress as he continued to the downtown area.
The chase went around the Blairsville Square, where GSP once again tried to executive a PIT maneuver, and down Bob Head Street onto Georgia 515 W, with GSP, UCSO, Blairsville PD and Helen PD still in hot pursuit.
GSP attempted a third PIT maneuver on 515, and just after the pursuit turned left onto Murphy Highway, the trooper made contact with the driver-side rear bumper to finally bring the chase to a dramatic end as the car rotated and slid into a raised concrete edge, causing it to flip.
The airbags deployed, blocking law enforcement’s view to the driver inside the vehicle.
“We got around to the passenger side where we could see in, and (Ginaga) was hung in his seatbelt upside down,” Sheriff Dyer said. “We had to reach in and cut the seatbelt, and then we dragged him out.
“We made sure he wasn’t hurt; he said he wasn’t hurt at all. We had EMS come check him anyway – no visible injuries at all. It was a very low-speed turnover (thanks to the Stop Sticks).”
No one was hurt in the incident, including the trooper who rammed the vehicle. The suspect was the lone occupant of the car, which was not stolen, and he did not have any weapons on his person or in the vehicle.
Multiple spectators gathered at the open businesses near the wreck. At one point, some teenagers who were parked at the McDonald’s across from the scene reportedly blasted the “Bad Boys” theme song from the TV show “Cops” through their car speakers after the driver was arrested.
Union County resident Sherrie Diaz said she had just gotten back to her car after a visit inside the Circle K when the chase turned down Murphy Highway. Parked facing north, she feared at first that the car might head straight for her after getting rammed by GSP.
“At least nobody got hurt – that’s the main thing,” Diaz said. “It was just exciting to watch; I was like, wow, we never see this.”
Sheriff Dyer said law enforcement always uses discretion in deciding whether to chase a vehicle. Dyer said the risk to the public was minimal in this case given that the pursuit occurred later in the evening, well after schools let out and most working people had gone home for the night.
“A lot of people complain about chases and having to run somebody down,” Dyer said. “If they’re the victim, you can bet that they want us to do everything we can do to catch these people. But if they’re not a victim, they don’t care if they get caught or not.
“We’re not going to sit around in Union County and let this turn into Atlanta where people can break all the laws they want and we’re not going to do anything about it if they tell us they don’t want us to. I’m not that type of person.
“I watched the chase; it didn’t get very dangerous with our oncoming cars or anything like that. But you’ve got to do your job, and if you quit doing your job, then crime will take over. And that’s a proven fact in Atlanta, Georgia.”
Added Dyer, “I can’t disengage the state anyway; their policy is to chase, and I can’t tell them not to chase. But I am going to be there with them to help if somebody gets out of a car and starts shooting at them.”
Some people argue that law enforcement should simply get tag information and disengage before a dangerous chase ensues, and Dyer said that is what they do in cases where officers decide the risk is too great during times when more of the motoring public is out and about.
“In the daytime, sometimes you can look and see who they are, identify them and then call off a chase,” Dyer said. “But just because you got a tag number doesn’t mean that’s always right.”
In the case of the fleeing Charger, Dyer said the driver had already committed a felony with his driving and had clearly demonstrated reckless disregard for the public, which is why law enforcement worked so hard to apprehend the suspect in a nighttime pursuit.
“Some of these DUI drivers, you can’t let them go because they’re going to go up the road a half a mile and kill somebody whether you’re chasing them or not,” Dyer said in general. “You have to consider the totality of the circumstances on what you do and don’t do, and it changes every day and every second.
“In the real world, if you’ve got somebody that’s so drunk they can’t keep on their side of the road at all, you’ve got to get them off the road. And if they just won’t stop, you’ve got to force them off the road. If not, they’re going to hit somebody.”
