Coroner rules on cause of death for SC man who led deputies on a high-speed chase on I-85

A man who jumped into Lake Hartwell to avoid capture by police after a 125-mph chase drowned, an autopsy showed.

Oconee County Coroner Karl Addis ruled the death of Akeem O. Lukie was accidental.

Lukie, 31, of Greenwood, was driving a 2014 Dodge Charger around 10 p.m. Monday on Interstate 85 in Franklin County, Georgia, when sheriff deputies tried to pull him over.

They recorded his speed at 125 mph, Addis said in a news release.

On the bridge going into South Carolina that crosses Lake Hartwell, Lukie’s car hit another vehicle, then the guardrail. Lukie got out of the car and jumped into the lake.

Franklin County deputies called to him and threw out a rope. The last they saw he went under the bridge.

Lukie’s body was recovered at approximately 2 a.m. in water 26 feet deep.