Video from wrecked GSP car to be viewed

Published 12:35 pm Tuesday, September 18, 2018

THOMASVILLE, Ga. — A Georgia State Patrol investigation is underway into a Monday morning crash in which a 2015 Dodge Charger driven by a Thomasville Post 12 trooper wrecked on Old Monticello Road in the city.

Trooper Grey Shiver was responding to a call from the Thomas County Sheriff’s Office for assistance in a pursuit in a hit-and-run incident on East Pinetree Boulevard about 9:30 a.m. A vehicle struck a car and fled.

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The trooper — with blue lights and siren activated — struck a 2015 Chrysler minivan that had slowed for what the driver thought was a crash at Old Monticello and Glen Arven Drive. The scene was where a deputy had tapped the fleeing hit-and-run vehicle with his patrol unit, causing it to stop at the intersection.

The fleeing vehicle was stopped within seconds of the call for assistance, Sgt. 1st Class John VanLandingham, Post 12 commander, said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the trooper’s vehicle left the road, struck a tree, flipped and landed upside-down on the east side of Old Monticello. The minivan traveled off the west side.

VanLandingham said that when the GSP Charger wrecked, the in-car video was damaged. State patrol personnel picked up the car Tuesday. It will be taken to Atlanta for retrieval of the video.

“They can access the hard drive and pull the video off that,” the commander said.

A GSP Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team began an investigation Tuesday at the crash scene.

“Right now, we don’t anticipate any charges,” VanLandingham said.

The trooper will return to work as soon as he is cleared by his physician.

Shiver suffered a dislocated foot in the crash and had abrasions. The trooper was sedated for treatment of the injured foot.

The minivan passenger expressed complaints about his back, VanLandingham said, adding that the driver was ambulatory at the Archbold Memorial Hospital emergency room Monday morning.

Akeria Derodshane Collins, 21, Thomasville, was the driver of the vehicle in the hit-and-run, said Capt. Steven Jones, sheriff’s office public information officer.

Collins is charged with felony fleeing and eluding, driving without a license, hit and run and two counts of failure to stop at stop sign.

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820