Local duo lead high-speed chase through Georgia residential area

Sep. 11—An Oxford man and Anniston woman were arrested Wednesday in Peachtree, Ga., after a dangerous high-speed chase through residential neighborhoods and school zones, officials say.

Peachtree City Police Department was notified that two suspects, Travis Glenn Smelley, 52, of Oxford, and Natalie Nicole Dumitras, 42, of Anniston, were involved in a theft at a Home Depot there, according to Peachtree police Lt. Chris Hyatt.

Officers located Dumitras' vehicle, driven by Smelley, and initiated a traffic stop. Smelley stopped, then immediately took off and "began driving with absolute careless disregard for anybody's safety," Hyatt said.

Hyatt explained that during the initial pursuit, Smelley was driving more than 90 miles an hour at times on a residential street with a speed limit of 35 mph.

After Smelley was involved in a minor traffic accident with another vehicle, he drove into a populated area where conditions were too dangerous for police pursuit, Hyatt said.

"He was going to end up killing somebody, so we discontinued our involvement and he fled into a neighboring jurisdiction," Hyatt said.

About 20-25 minutes later, officers received information that the vehicle Smelley was driving was traveling back through Peachtree. Officers spotted the vehicle, and "made an immediate attempt to immobilize him by making intentional contact and ram him off the roadway," Hyatt said.

The department's K9 unit was able to successfully push the vehicle off the road; however, Smelley was able to recover onto the roadway and continue his hazardous behavior, Hyatt said.

"We located him on Highway 74 traveling southbound. Again we continued pursuing him. We tried to set up stop-sticks at an intersection off Highway 74 and Wisdom Road. He jumped a concrete median on the divided highway at highway speeds, started driving on the wrong side of the highway to avoid the stop sticks, and turned down Wisdom Road which is headed towards an active school zone," Hyatt said.

At that point, two unmarked police vehicles from a neighboring department got involved and continued the chase through the school zone. The unmarked police cars successfully made "intentional contact with his vehicle and immobilized it just inside the outskirts of that school zone," Hyatt said.

Officers at the scene were able to remove Smelley and Dumitras from the vehicle, and arrest them without incident.

Regarding the wounds on Smelley's face seen in his mugshot, Hyatt said, "There was no use of force during the removal of the vehicle or anything like that. Mr. Smelley actually looked like that before he went into Home Depot."

Hyatt said that in his dealings with drug users, that is a "common appearance of narcotics users of that variety."

"Facial sores and that kind of stuff, cuts, it's kind of normal. That could be from the collision. I don't know, but it appeared when we were dealing with it at Home Depot that he had those kind of open sores on his face."

Dumitras was charged with drug possession and possession of drug-related objects. However, Smelley was charged with driving under the influence of drugs, theft by shoplifting, two counts of fleeing or attempting to elude, drug possession, possession of drug related objects, excessive tint on windshield, driving with a suspended license, and 30 different traffic violations, including numerous reckless driving charges.

Both are being held at the Fayette County Jail on bond.