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State v. Reid7/20/2001
e was the second or third officer to arrive at the scene. When he reached the upstairs balcony area, he observed Blair lying on the floor in "bad shape" and the other victim, Massengill, slumped over the railing with an eye wound. Because the balcony was congested with medical personnel, Gates decided to assist with securing the area downstairs. On his way he encountered two more victims: Eric Benion and Marcus Williams. Benion had been shot in the hand and Williams had gunshot wounds in his leg and back.
Once the victims were removed for medical treatment, Gates and the other police officers began interviewing witnesses and searching the area for evidence. The police located a set of keys belonging to one of the victims, several spent rounds of ammunition (later identified as .22 caliber shell casings), a baseball cap, and a bottle of some kind of alcoholic beverage in the gravel parking lot below the stairs. County officials reported spotting persons and a car matching the witnesses' description of the suspects and their vehicle: three black males in a small, white four-door car, with a "drive-out tag" in the rear window.
Jimmy Woody, a patrolman for the Bradley County Sheriff's Office, testified that he was one of the police officers involved in the pursuit of the shooting suspects. The chase began shortly after Officer Paul Leroy initially spotted the suspects' vehicle near the Waffle House on Georgetown Road. Leroy reported observing the vehicle drive onto Interstate 75, near exit 25, and he followed it for several miles while waiting for assistance. When the suspects reached exit 33, Woody was within a mile of Leroy and both officers activated their blue lights and sirens. The suspects responded by accelerating. They drove recklessly, at speeds of 70 to 80 miles per hour, constantly switching lanes and also traveling in the emergency lane. The chase continued for approximately two miles. Then the driver of the vehicle suddenly pulled over and stopped the car in the median on the left side of the interstate, between the Charleston exit and the river on the northbound side. The passenger in the front seat remained in the vehicle, but the driver and backseat passenger leaped out of the car and ran west toward the southbound lane. Sergeant Collins and Clancy Bryson, also involved in the pursuit, chased the fleeing suspects on foot. One was captured in the woods, and the other was apprehended sometime later near the truck stop at exit 33. Woody identified Defendant as the driver of the vehicle, but did not testify as to whether Defendant was the suspect captured in the woods or the one apprehended later, near the truckstop.
Sergeant John Collins, a patrolman for the Bradley County Sheriff's Office, testified that he also participated in the pursuit of Defendant. As the officers were closing in on the vehicle, Collins made eye contact with the driver, who grinned at him as he pulled alongside the suspects.
Collins identified Defendant as the smiling driver and corroborated the testimony given by Officer Woody regarding the pursuit. Collins also confirmed that both he and Officer Bryson chased the two suspects who fled on foot. Apprehending the first suspect rather quickly, the officers then searched the woods with police dogs for the second but were initially unsuccessful. Upon returning to their units, a dispatcher informed them that someone from the truck stop at exit 33 reported a person matching the description of the missing suspect standing on the interstate trying to flag a ride. Detective Quinn drove to the exit and picked him up. During his testimony, Collins was not asked whether Defendant was the first suspect, apprehended in the woods, or the one discovered la
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