Advocates rally at Capitol for bill to curb high-speed police chases

A suspect ran from law enforcement officers. After a police pursuit, the suspect crashed his vehicle. David Johnson’s uncle was an innocent bystander who suffered injuries due to the crash.

“I don’t want that to happen to anybody else’s family because that’s truly traumatizing and just really painful,” Johnson said.

Johnson, a student at Savannah State University, stood with other students and advocates of the Daren Lewis Saving Lives Act on the South Wing steps at the Georgia Capitol Wednesday to promote the legislation.

The legislation is named after a 60-year-old man who was killed when a person fleeing the police crashed into his vehicle.

“My husband was simply going to a dentist appointment,” Kathy Lewis, Lewis’s wife, said at the news conference. “I’ve lost my husband, but we can save other lives.”

State Rep. Carl Gilliard, D-Savannah, and state Sen. Donzella James, D-Atlanta, held the press conference Wednesday to introduce the legislation along with other public safety measures.

The bill, also known as House Bill 1011, will need to pass a committee hearing before heading to the General Assembly. The law aims to reduce fatalities and injuries from high-speed pursuits in residential areas through written policies and training for law officers.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution did an extensive investigation in 2024 into the police pursuit policies of the Georgia State Patrol and found that bystanders or passengers were the most often harmed during pursuits by GSP.

“I think this is truly important because we see everyday police pursuits, we hear about it, and we might not be affected by it directly, but we know somebody who has been affected by it, whether it’s an innocent civilian, a bystander, anything in that nature,” Johnson said.