A 49-year-old man exchanged gunfire with a man who attempted to kick in the door of a nearby house, police said.
Thomas L. Scott told police that he saw a man “who appeared to be in his 20s” try to kick in the door of 804 Bales Circle, according to a Chattanooga Police Department news release.
Mr. Scott grabbed his shotgun and yelled at the man, who ran back to a black Nissan Altima and fled, he told police. When the car drove past Mr. Scott’s home the passenger pointed a handgun out of the window and fired three to four shots at Mr. Scott, police were told.
Mr. Scott returned fire with his shotgun and told police he “believes he hit the rear door of the passenger side of the Altima.”
Man crashes, dies after police chase
Hamilton County sheriff’s traffic officers will handle any investigation into the fatal single-vehicle crash that killed Robert Kenneth Bales early Friday morning.
Collegedale police Chief Brian Hickman said dispatchers received a call at around midnight Thursday that Mr. Bales appeared intoxicated while trying to order food at a Burger King drive-through on Little Debbie Parkway.
Police responded, but Mr. Bales had driven away. He was stopped at a Lee Highway gas station nearby. As officers checked his license he sped off, and police chased him, they reported.
“We had to continue this for the safety of the public,” Chief Hickman said. “Had we let him go down the street and he crossed the center line and killed somebody, we’re liable.”
During the chase Mr. Bales sped through the median and turned onto Ooltewah-Georgetown Road, where his vehicle ran sideways into a ditch and rolled three times.
He was ejected from the vehicle, sustaining fatal injuries. Mr. Bales was pronounced dead at Erlanger hospital early Friday morning.
Chief Hickman said he felt three things could have prevented the death: if Mr. Bales had not been drinking, if he had not been speeding and if he had worn a seatbelt.