LANETT, Ala. — A Georgia sheriff's deputy was fatally injured when he was struck by another police vehicle at the end of a high-speed chase that crossed the border into Alabama.
Coweta County Deputy Eric Minix died early Thursday morning after pursuing a stolen vehicle, the sheriff's office wrote on social media, and “during the arrest of the suspect, Eric was struck by a police cruiser and was pronounced dead in a regional hospital.”
“We have lost a good deputy. We have lost a good man. We have lost a good friend,” the sheriff's office wrote. Minix, who was also a K-9 officer, is survived by a wife and three daughters.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said Minix, 31, was getting out of his patrol vehicle when he was struck by an SUV driven by a police officer from Lanett, a city in Chambers County just across the state line from Georgia. The crash happened on Interstate 85 on Wednesday at 11:55 p.m.
Lanett police said several Georgia law enforcement vehicles were involved in what they described as a high-speed chase. The department said the Alabama officer has been placed on administrative leave during the investigation.
The officer, identified as Cornelius J. Robinson, responded to assist Minix in pursuit of a Dodge Challenger that had been reported stolen, the agency said.
“Please keep everyone involved in your thoughts and prayers,” Lanett police wrote in a social media post.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said the driver of the stolen car, identified as Decedric Donson, 25, of Pensacola, was arrested and charged with receiving stolen property and attempting to elude law enforcement. Alabama court records did not immediately indicate whether he has an attorney who could speak on his behalf.