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Mother of boy ejected, killed by PIT maneuver says son was trying help friend
Shakeena Clotter said someone shot at him and a friend outside an East Point apartment. She said he called to tell her he was driving for help. Troopers found automatic weapons in the car they pursued.
ATLANTA - A police chase through Atlanta ended with two people dead Friday morning, and now the mother of one of the men said she wants to know why.
Shakeena Clotter identified her son, Amarion Clotter, 18, as the passenger killed in the crash.
"I don't know what to do from here. I know I want some answers. I need some answers," said Clotter.
According to the Georgia State Patrol, the chase began on Interstate 85 North at Cleveland Avenue when a trooper tried to stop a white Jeep Grand Cherokee for speeding just before 1 a.m.
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Instead of stopping, officials said the driver sped off onto the Downtown Connector, leading to a chase.
Amarion Clotter leaves behind his mother, two sisters and a 7-month-old baby.
Clotter said, earlier in the night, her son had gone to talk to a friend outside their apartment in East Point. A few minutes later, she heard a series of gunshots and the teen alerted her that someone had opened fire on him and his friend in the parking lot and that his friend had been hit. Family members showed FOX 5 the Nissan riddled with bullet holes.
Clotter said she and her son drove the injured young man to his mother's house where Amarion and another friend decided to drive him to the hospital. The last time she saw her son, he was on his way to get him medical attention.
"They're automatically just making it seem like it was some thugs driving around on a police chase out of control. I need them to know that there was a story behind my child leaving this house going to try to get his friend some help," said Clotter.
At one point, GSP officials said the driver exited the highway onto Edgewood Avenue where the injured young man jumped out of the car. Troopers found him later with a gunshot wound to the back.
The Jeep then returned to I-75/85 south and once the driver took the exit for I-20, the trooper decided to perform a precision immobilization technique (or PIT) maneuver.
"Our policy is that it's the trooper's discretion. It's whatever the trooper feels like is going to be the safest way to end the pursuit," explained Lt. Michael Burns, public information director for the Georgia Department of Public Safety.
Lt. Burns said troopers can also use stop sticks, but that option is not as effective on a multilane interstate.
"The other option is we can 'box in,' which you know, takes two to three patrol cars where essentially you surround the violator to try to get them to come to a stop. Based on the speeds and the aggressive manner which this particular driver was driving, box in was not going to work," said Lt. Burns.
GSP said the two people inside the fleeing vehicle were not wearing their seatbelts and were ejected onto the interstate. They were both pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators have not released the name of the driver killed in the crash, but Clotter said her son was just a passenger. Amarion Clotter leaves behind his mother, two sisters and a 7-month-old baby.
Amarion Clotter leaves behind his mother, two sisters and a 7-month-old baby. (Provided by family)
"He comes to try to get his friend some help to get to the hospital and then now he's gone. And now I have to bury my 18-year-old son and I need to know exactly what happened," said Clotter.
Clotter has set up an online fundraiser to help pay for her son's funeral.