Driver sought in interstate wreck

NORTH AUGUSTA - Law enforcement officials were looking for a man who ran away Monday after the car he was driving flipped over on Interstate 20 and landed in a yard on Bergen Road.

A South Carolina trooper started following the car, which was clocked at about 85 mph on I-20 west near mile marker 14 at about 8 a.m., said Sid Gaulden, a spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Public Safety.

He said the state trooper followed the vehicle to about mile marker 3.

"At first it looked like the individual was going to pull over and stop," he said.

However, Mr. Gaulden said, the driver then pulled the car into the far left lane.

"It was actually driving on the shoulder of the median," he said of the vehicle.

The car then made a sharp turn to the right across the two westbound lanes of traffic. It went down an embankment and back up a hill before crashing through a chain link fence, Mr. Gaulden said.

The vehicle then flipped across Bergen Road before it came to rest in a yard, he said.

"The driver was ejected, but he got up and ran away," Mr. Gaulden said.

He did not have a description of the man.

Authorities think the vehicle might have been stolen.

Mr. Gaulden said the dog team from the City of Aiken Public Safety Department was called to help search for the man.

The dogs tracked him for 30 minutes to an hour, Mr. Gaulden said, but he did not have any information about the man being caught.

No one else was injured, and no other vehicles were damaged in the incident, he said.

Reach Betsy Gilliland at (803) 648-1395, ext. 113,or betsy.gilliland@augustachronicle.com.