State trooper hurt in chase that ends with a crash Sunday

A trooper with the Georgia State Patrol was hurt after a car chase in Grady County ended with the suspect crashing into the trooper’s cruiser early Sunday morning.
Trooper First Class Kelley Meed, 28, suffered apparent minor injuries to a knee and shoulder, according to Sgt. First Class Tommy Peeples, commander of GSP Post 12 in Thomasville.
The chase began around 12:30 a.m., Sunday, after a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse drove up to a road block the Troopers were working at Pine Park Road and Hadley Ferry. Seeing what they suspected were a handgun and a rifle in the back of the car, the officers asked the driver to pull onto the road shoulder, according to Peeples. Instead, the Eclipse fled the scene with Troopers Walt Landrum and Meed in pursuit.
Peeples says when the Eclipse came upon Pine Park and Hwy. 111, the driver attempted to make a left turn onto 111, but went wide and struck a guard rail. The Eclipse continued South on 111, and Trooper Landrum conducted a “Pit Maneuver” where he drove alongside the Eclipse and then clipped the car causing it to spin counterclockwise. Trooper Kelley moved in to block the Eclipse and prevent it from fleeing. It was at this point that the driver of the Eclipse then rammed head-on into Kelley’s 2011 Dodge Charger, Peeples says.
After the collision, the driver got out of his car and ran into a nearby wooded area, but was chased down on foot and apprehended by Meed and Landrum.
Joshua Ansley Dees, 23, of Boston, Ga., faces multiple traffic charges still pending by the GSP. The Grady County Sheriff’s Office has charged him with aggravated assault on a police officer, tampering with evidence for throwing a rifle out of the car window during the chase, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
A passenger in the car, Blake Pearson, 17, of Whigham, is charged with aggravated assault on a police officer and tampering with evidence for throwing the rifle out of the car, according to Steve Clark, investigator with the Grady County Sheriff’s Office.
Both Pearson and Dees remain in the Grady Detention Center.