‘Professional criminal’ leads police on 125-mph chase, captured in drainage ditch near I-85

A man described by police as a professional criminal led officers on a high-speed chase last week from Peachtree City north nearly to I-85 before he was apprehended and charged with several felonies as well as about two dozen traffic violations.

According to a Peachtree City Police spokesman, a K-9 officer on the northern end of the city encountered a black Jeep Cherokee Trackhawk, an extremely high-performance vehicle, with illegal window tinting and an out-of-state license plate.

A computer check of the plate and identification of the vehicle’s registered owner revealed multiple violent felony warrants from different agencies, including aggravated assault of a police officer, failure to appear, and battery/family violence.

Once the officer took steps to initiate a traffic stop, the Jeep was “in the wind,” the spokesman stated.

The ensuing chase took police north on Hwy. 74 all the way through Tyrone and into Fairburn. The many traffic violations stemmed from this pursuit, during which the suspect reached estimated speeds of about 125 miles per hour.

Traffic in the area helped officers keep close to the vehicle, according to the spokesman. “Otherwise, he would have been gone in that car,” he said. “It is crazy fast.”

The suspect attempted to cut through a gas station parking lot to reach Oakley Industrial Boulevard but blew out a tire on a curb, after which he fled on foot. The short foot pursuit went through a fast-food restaurant property and ended in a drainage ditch, where the suspect was taken into custody.

Inside the car police found two handguns, one of which was modified with an illegal back plate that made it fully automatic. It was subsequently tested on a gun range and found to empty an entire magazine in two or three seconds, police said.

A duffel bag inside the vehicle contained an AK pistol and a ski mask. “He had a robbery charge previously, so that is kind of his MO,” according to the police spokesman.

Other items recovered included some marijuana, three cell phones, financial transaction cards not in the suspect’s name and a check from the U.S. Treasury Department made out to someone else.

According to the Fayette County Jail log, Demarqeyan Mobley, 29, of Atlanta was charged with multiple counts of financial identity fraud, possession of a dangerous weapon, fleeing/eluding law enforcement, obstruction of an officer, possession of marijuana, speeding, seven counts of failure to maintain lane, two counts of reckless driving, two counts of driving through a safety zone, six signal violations, driving with a suspended license, following too close, passing on a hill or curb, and excessive windshield tint — without the last of which he probably would never have been stopped in the first place.

“One hundred percent a professional criminal,” the police spokesman stated. “He just goes about his business committing all of these violent felonies without a care in the world because he has a vehicle that can pretty much get away from anybody. If he made it to the interstate, he was gone.”