MARIETTA - Saturday night was not another routine scouting trip for Marietta High School men's basketball coach Charlie Hood and his friend, former Assistant Marietta Police Chief Rupert Raines. Their trip to see Cherokee County High School's basketball team ended when the SUV they were in collided with a truck that was being chased by police.

"We were at the wrong place at the wrong time," Hood said.

Brandon Kyle Haire, 17, was arrested by Marietta Police after authorities said the suspected drunk driver ran red lights, rammed other vehicles and plowed into a building during the chase. He is charged with a host of traffic offenses, including felony fleeing or attempting to elude an officer, hit and run, driving on the wrong side of the road, no license, DUI test refused, and felony criminal interference with government property.

The teenager is being held in the Cobb County Jail.

According to a police report, officers were alerted around 8:25 p.m. of a possible drunk driver, who had turned into a parking lot at 620 Cherokee Street. When officers arrived, they saw Haire standing next to a blue 1994 GMC Sierra, police said. He started to get back into the GMC when one officer asked Haire to exit the vehicle, according to authorities.

"Haire then closed the driver door of the vehicle and left the parking lot traveling north on Cherokee Street," the report states.

Police said they activated their emergency lights and siren, but Haire failed to stop, proceeding to go through several red traffic lights.

He then drove on the wrong side of the road on Church Street Extension, police reported. Police said as Haire approached the intersection of Lacy Street and Campbell Hill Street, he struck a 2002 Toyota Sienna that was stopped on Lacy Street.

The report said boxed Haire in when he stopped on Campbell Hill Street. When officers got out of their cars, ordering Haire to exit his vehicle, police said he shifted the truck into drive and struck the front passenger fender of one of the patrol cars.

The pursuit then continued westbound on Witcher Street to the intersection of Church Street, where police said Haire drove through a red light and was struck by the 2008 Mercury Mariner that Hood was driving.

"I didn't see him until almost up impact," Hood remembered. "The first thing I saw was the side of his truck by the door. I didn't have time to do anything."

After colliding with Hood's SUV, Haire continued to travel west and lost control of the truck, slamming into a medical building at 652 Church St., "creating a hole in the exterior brick wall of the building," the report states.

"It was an eye opener," said Raines, who retired in 1985 after 25 years with the Marietta Police Department. He said he was involved chases of suspects while on the force, but thought it "ironic" to be in one in which the suspect was "chased by police after I retired," he said.

Raines said he sustained a minor neck injury and a few bruises. He was treated at nearby WellStar Kennestone Hospital and later released. Hood said he suffered a minor cut to his knee and is still sore in his chest area from the crash.

Police said Haire smelled of alcohol and found a bottle of Jack Daniels and Budweiser beer in his vehicle. Haire was treated for a laceration to his head at WellStar before being placed in custody.

Marietta Police spokesman Officer Mark Bishop said he was certain that the police officers involved in the chase followed department procedure, but that a review board would still likely look at the incident that was caught by police video.

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