On a Thursday night a month ago, Zachary Lumpkin was on the run from law enforcement in a 1992 Ford Ranger with a warrant out for his arrest.
Lumpkin failed to appear in court for charges of possession of stolen property, driving with a suspended license and possession of a firearm.
Whitfield County Deputy Christopher Hicks, normally assigned to the department’s drug unit, was on patrol due to a recent officer shortage, according to Sheriff Scott Chitwood.
Shadow Stanley, 20, was in the passenger seat with Lumpkin as Lumpkin fled from police. During the chase, Hicks made the decision to execute a PIT maneuver, a tactic in which a pursuing officer uses his or her cruiser to push the fleeing vehicle’s rear end sideways with the nose of the cruiser, sending the suspect’s vehicle into a spin.
Lumpkin’s Ranger slid sideways, went airborne and hit an electric pole before coming to a crashing stop on its hood. Both Lumpkin and Stanley were pronounced dead at the scene, near the intersection of Highway 41 and Little John Lane.