A high-speed police chase ended in the drowning of a South Carolina man after he jumped into a lake and refused to be pulled back up by officers.
The body of Akeem Lukie was recovered from Lake Hartwell on the Georgia-South Carolina border just before dawn Tuesday, according to local news outlets.
Deputies from Georgia county tried to pull over a Dodge Charger that was traveling at a breakneck speed of 125 mph on Interstate 85. Deputies say they chased Lukie and he eventually slammed into another car on a bridge over the lake and then hit a guardrail.
Deputies say Lukie then ran from the car and jumped into the lake from the bridge. Franklin County deputies threw him a rope to pull him out, but instead, they saw Lukie try to swim and last saw him alive going under the bridge.
His body was pulled hours later about 26 feet deep.
The car was registered to Lukie’s wife.
Oconee County Coroner Karl Addis said Lukie was identified by prominent tattoos and his South Carolina driver’s license, according to television station WYFF 4.
