One ‘crazy’ Monday: Why Bluffton Police initiated a high-speed chase toward Savannah

This story has been updated to reflect the correct first name of Chatham County Sheriff John Wilcher and the correct name of Bluffton neighborhood Southern Oaks.

A slew of car break-ins in a Bluffton neighborhood early Monday morning led to a multi-vehicle, high-speed chase on narrow South Carolina back roads toward Savannah.

And a separate incident involving a stolen car — the driver of which apparently took his own life after being stopped by Georgia authorities — around the same time made for, in the words of Bluffton Police Chief Joe Manning, “a crazy morning” for his staff.

Bluffton Police responded to at least six reports of car break-ins that were documented as early as 3:30 a.m. Monday in the Southern Oaks neighborhood off New Riverside Drive, according to police reports.

Officers in two Bluffton Police cruisers saw three vehicles — thought to be a sliver Mercedes, a black Infiniti and a black Toyota Camry — turn out of the neighborhood around 4 a.m. as they were responding. The officers tried to initiate a traffic stop, but the drivers of the Mercedes and Infiniti sped away, according to Manning. His officers pursued them, and the chase reached speeds of 100 mph along S.C. 46 into Jasper County.

The Toyota, Manning said, did a U-turn shortly after officers tried to initiate the stop. “We didn’t know if (the Toyota) might have initially been a witness, if that third vehicle might have been a victim trying to stay up with (the Mercedes and Infiniti),” Manning said, “so our officers didn’t really concentrate on that vehicle.”

But that vehicle would soon pass Bluffton officers as they ended their chase somewhere before the Georgia state line, and it would crash moments later near the intersection of West Boundary Street and Gwinnett Street in Savannah, Manning said.

The other two vehicles escaped across the Talmadge Memorial Bridge into Savannah, presumably, he said. As of Monday afternoon, he had not heard of their whereabouts.

The chase lasted from approximately 4:07 to 4:13 a.m., Manning said.

A one-vehicle crash occurred at West Boundary and Gwinnett streets around 4:25 a.m., according to a news release on the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department’s website. Department spokesperson Keturah Greene said the vehicle was a Toyota Camry that, based on pictures, was black in appearance. She also said the department was informed that it may have been connected to an incident involving a South Carolina agency.

The car’s driver, according to the news release, was a 16-year-old male in serious but stable condition. Manning said the driver would be charged with breaking into cars and stealing the Camry, which he said was taken from someone in Southern Oaks.

Manning said Bluffton Police investigators responded to the Savannah crash and to another incident — one he says that, at this time, is not related to the chase or his agency — in nearby Port Wentworth, Ga.

During the second incident, a man reportedly committed suicide shortly after being stopped by Chatham County Sheriff’s deputies on Georgia Hwy. 21. The incident occurred around the same time that the Camry crashed in downtown Savannah. Deputies initiated the stop because the driver was driving erratically and failing to maintain lanes, Chatham County Sheriff John Wilcher said Monday afternoon during a news conference.

Manning said his department was notified of the incident because the man was driving a stolen car, so he sent an investigator to Port Wentworth to see if there was a connection to the break-ins and chase in Bluffton.

“Our investigators went out there, and we determined that that had nothing to do with ours,” Manning said. “But there was so much going on (Monday morning), apparently, that anything that happened, (people) were linking it back to Bluffton.”

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the second incident, Wilcher said.

This story was originally published November 27, 2017 at 5:56 PM with the headline "One ‘crazy’ Monday: Why Bluffton Police initiated a high-speed chase toward Savannah."