Police chase on I-85 ends in crash, drug arrest

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A driver and his passenger were injured after the car they were riding in crashed during a chase on Interstate 85 in Franklin County, according to a news release from the Georgia State Patrol.

The release said a trooper with the state patrol's Criminal Interdiction Unit tried to stop a Toyota Camry for traffic violations on I-85 North on Monday. When the trooper turned on his emergency lights, the driver of the Camry sped up and led the trooper on a chase, the release states.

The chase ended when the trooper used a PIT maneuver near the Lavonia exit to stop the car. After being stopped, the Camry went off the east shoulder of the road and overturned multiple times, says Sgt. J.R. Dean with GSP Post 52 in Hartwell.

The driver, 49-year-old Glen Richard Smith Jr. from Inman, South Carolina, and his passenger, 34-year-old Krystal Lynn Sykes from Graham, North Carolina, were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Smith was then taken to the Franklin County Detention Center where he faces charges of felony fleeing and possession of methamphetamine.