GSP Pursuit of Indiana Murder Suspect Into Oncoming Traffic | Truck Goes Airborne | Assist to USMS

On October 20th 2022, US Marshals requested our assistance with the apprehension of a murder suspect from Indiana. Agents received information that the suspect was at N Bogan Road in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Agents responded to the residence to confirm the information received while Corporal Anthony Munoz 438 and I staged on GA20. While agents were conducting surveillance, they observed the suspect exit the residence and enter into a 2022 Dodge Ram which was registered to him. Agents followed the suspect as he left the residence and began traveling westbound on GA20. The suspect was identified as a 36 year old black male, Irvin M. Roberson.
At approximately 1341 hours, Corporal Anthony Munoz 438 and I located the 2022 Dodge Ram at the intersection of GA20 and Stanley Street. I activated my emergency blue lights to conduct a felony traffic stop. I positioned my patrol car as the primary unit and Cpl. Munoz positioned his patrol car as the secondary unit. Once my blue lights were activated, Mr. Roberson began to flee. I quickly performed a Precision Immobilization Technique (PIT). After the PIT maneuver was conducted, I thought that I disabled the vehicle. I put my patrol car in park and began to exit. My thought process was to exit my patrol car before Mr. Irvin exited his so my reaction time would be faster if he had a weapon or a use of force situation occurred. However, Mr. Roberson remained in his vehicle and continued to flee westbound on GA20. I pursued him as the primary unit and Cpl. Munoz was the secondary unit.
Mr. Roberson drove extremely reckless while exceeding the posted speed limit and endangering the motoring public by driving the wrong way on GA20. Mr. Roberson drove through the median into oncoming traffic multiple times with total disregard for anyone's safety. At one point of the pursuit, Mr. Roberson traveled back into the westbound lanes on GA20. I knew that the possibility of Mr. Roberson crashing and killing someone was extremely high therefore I conducted a second PIT maneuver in an attempt to terminate the pursuit. However, Mr. Roberson was able to counter steer and continue to flee. After the second PIT maneuver attempt, Mr. Roberson traveled back into the wrong lanes of GA20 and remained there until the end of the pursuit.
As the pursuit approached the intersection of GA20 and Samples Road, Mr. Roberson traveled back into the westbound lanes. Mr. Roberson positioned his vehicle in a right turn lane and began passing westbound traffic which was stopped for a signaled red light at GA20 and Samples Drive. I began breaking while approaching the intersection and observed Mr. Roberson disobey a red light at the intersection. Mr. Roberson attempted to travel through the intersection but was unsuccessful. Mr. Roberson struck a motorist which was traveling south on Samples Road. Mr. Roberson’s vehicle then came to an uncontrolled rest in the eastbound left turn lane on GA20. As I cleared the intersection and continued traveling west in the westbound lanes, I observed Mr. Roberson exit his vehicle and began running. I drove south while crossing the median and eastbound lanes of GA20 in an attempt to intercept his direction of travel. Mr. Roberson then ran up a hill towards the parking lot of Walgreen's. I followed Cpl. Munoz into the parking lot at which time Mr. Roberson changed his direction and started running back down the hill towards GA20. Cpl. Munoz and I began running down the hill towards Mr. Roberson. While pursuing Mr. Roberson on foot, I observed that he did not have anything in either of his hands. I observed that Cpl. Munoz was running with his taser in his right hand while Mr. Roberson was running back in the direction of his vehicle. I screamed at Cpl. Munoz and advised to watch Mr. Roberson because I thought that Mr. Roberson was going back to his vehicle to retrieve a weapon. I deployed my department issued pistol and began to bring it up to a low ready position. Mr. Roberson then turned around and observed how close Cpl. Munoz and I were to him. Mr. Roberson laid down on the ground and prone out on his stomach.
Cpl. Munoz covered Mr. Roberson with less lethal while I placed him in handcuffs. US Marshals arrived on scene and helped escort Mr. Roberson to a patrol car where he was secured. Mr. Roberson was released into the custody of US Marshals which handled all charges related to this incident. The crash involving Mr. Roberson's vehicle and another vehicle involved one report of minor injury.
Route of pursuit:
First PIT was at GA20 and Stanley Street (1343 hours)
Second PIT was at GA20 and Old Cumming Road (1345 hours)
Termination due to crash at GA20 and Samples Drive (1348 hours)
Length of pursuit was 6.9 miles
Mileage on my patrol car was 130,049 miles.
This incident was digitally recorded on Watchguard HD Perm 7659 / Car 413 and Perm 8506 / Car 438.
TFC2 B. Smith 413