Man Charged in High-Speed Interstate Chase Due In Court Today

A California man is due back in Franklin County Superior Court today for a bond hearing related to charges of feticide by vehicle and other charges.  According to Google, feticide is defined as the destruction or abortion of a fetus. 

On Wednesday, May 8, Georgia State Patrol Trooper Sgt. Ray Dean said Jovontae Marquelle Hill, 31, of La Mesa, California, was involved in a high-speed chase on Interstate 85 that resulted in the death of an unborn baby.

According to Sgt. Dean, troopers from Hartwell Post 52 were requested by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office to assist in a vehicle pursuit of a 2023 GMC Yukon that was traveling northbound on I-85.

Dean said as the pursuit approached mile marker 175 on northbound side of 85, a Trooper successfully performed a PIT maneuver causing the Yukon to rotate clockwise off the east shoulder of the road.

The Yukon struck a guardrail end and overturned multiple times off the east shoulder of the interstate.

A female passenger in the Yukon who was pregnant had to be extricated from the vehicle and airlifted to the Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville.  She was carrying an unborn child that did not survive the wreck.

Hill was transported by ambulance to Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital with serious injuries.  He has since been released. 

Dean said in addition to feticide by vehicle, Hill is also facing multiple charges including felony fleeing, and reckless driving.