PEACHTREE CORNERS, Ga. -- A father and son are in jail after leading police on a chase, which resulted in the death of an elderly married couple.
Kryzysztof Krawczynski, 77, of Norcross was driving with his wife, Elzbieta Gurtler-Krawczynski, 78, when a car driven by Larry Thomas, 47, slammed into their Mercedes in the intersection of Peachtree Parkway at Jay Bird Alley around 10:30 p.m. Thursday night.
The husband and wife were both killed.
The initial chase began in Johns Creek as officer W. W. Goins attempted to stop the vehicle over a tag light violation. But soon after, the vehicle sped away leading the responding officer on a chase into Gwinnett County.
The suspect vehicle traveled southbound on Peachtree Parkway and allegedly failed to yield for Johns Creek Police who followed them across county lines.
The vehicle continued to speed away from the responding officer while crossing and straddling the center line and sometimes veering into the turn lane while passing other motorists and driving through at least one traffic signal.
But as Thomas' Crown Victoria approached the intersection of Peachtree Parkway at Jay Bird Alley, it collided with the Krawczynski's vehicle.
The officer immediately ran to the suspects' vehicle as bystanders went to help the Krawczynskis until emergency crews and backup arrived.
Unfortunately, Elzbieta was pronounced dead at the scene. Kryzysztof was transported to a hospital but was also pronounced dead.
"This tragedy was caused by the deliberate actions of Larry Thomas, who refused to stop for a lawful traffic stop and then proceeded to drive recklessly at a high rate of speed, which intentionally put lives at risk," a press release from the Johns Creek Police Department said.
After being transported to Gwinnett Medical Center, both Thomas and his son, 18-year-old Jesse, were released and booked into the Gwinnett County Detention Center.
"Larry Thomas chose to be involved in this pursuit. He chose the course of action that he followed and it's a direct result, where we're at now, of his choices" Johns Creek Police Captain Chris Byers said.
Byers said the department is also investigating the actions of the officer per standard protocol.
"We're reviewing it, pulling all available data, doing our interviews and then we'll make a determination on the pursuit," he said. "We do this on any type of incident that we have."
11Alive received a copy of the department's pursuit policy on Friday.
It does allow officers to chase someone for a "reasonable amount of time". In this case, it was less than two minutes but it ended with deadly results.
Larry Thomas was charged with:
- Two counts of Vehicular Homicide
- Serious Injury for the passenger of his vehicle.
- DUI
- Fleeing / Attempting to Elude a Police Officer
- Reckless Driving
- Speeding
- Failure to Maintain Lane
- Failure to Obey a Traffic Control Device
- Crossing a Gore
- VGCSA - Trafficking in Methamphetamine
- Trafficking in Morphine
- Possession with intent to distribute marijuana
- Possession of cocaine
- Possession of LSD
- Possession of Gun during commission of a felony
Jesse Thomas was charged with:
- Trafficking in Methamphetamine
- Trafficking in Morphine
- Possession with intent to distribute marijuana
- Possession of LSD
- Possession of cocaine
- Possession of Gun during commission of a felony
The father and son will have their first court appearance Saturday morning.
Kryzysztof Krawczynski had retired from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after 31 years. He most recently worked in the CDC's Division of Viral Hepatitis as distinguished consultant, chief, and team leader of the Experimental Pathology Laboratory.
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