A driver who led an Edgefield County deputy on a weekend chase killed himself after speeding into Aiken County and bailing from the car, leaving two passengers behind, authorities said.
Joseph D. Robertson, 25, crashed his vehicle Saturday night on the I-20 entrance ramp at the 18-mile marker, according to Aiken County Coroner Darryl Ables.
“The driver of the vehicle fled from the scene as two passengers were taken into custody. As officers searched the area, a gunshot was heard from the woods of the eastbound lane of I-20, and a subsequent search by tracking dogs led to the discovery of the body,” the coroner said. “Robertson was pronounced deceased on scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
The death of the Greenwood County man followed a vehicle pursuit that initiated in Edgefield County. Edgefield County authorities attempted a traffic stop around 6:45 p.m. Saturday that led to the high-speed chase that crossed over into Aiken County.
Robertson is the same man who led Edgefield County deputies on a wild chase in 2018 as a teenager. He was wanted for attempted murder for a shooting in Greenwood County when he led police and Edgefield County deputies on a chase that ended with Robertson barricaded in a building and the county’s SWAT team being called out, according to media reports.
In Saturday’s chase and suicide, the Aiken County Coroner’s Office, Aiken County Sheriff’s Office, Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office, and SLED are continuing with the investigation, Ables said. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday in Newberry.
