Updated: Driver charged after fatal head-on crash in Central Kentucky

A man fleeing police in Scott County Tuesday morning hit another vehicle head-on, causing the death of the driver, police said.

Deionta Catlett, who was driving a 2015 Dodge Dart, fled when Georgetown police tried to stop him, crashing head-on into another vehicle on U.S. 25, Sgt. Robert Tackett, of the Scott County Sheriff’s Office, said in an email message. Catlett has been charged with second-degree manslaughter.

“Catlett had multiple opportunities to pull over his vehicle, while fleeing GPD, he operated his vehicle in a manner which shown no regard to human life,” Tackett wrote. “Based on the investigation it was determined Catlett operated his vehicle in a manner where he consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk to public safety.”

He said investigators think “Catlett was traveling at a high rate of speed at the time of the crash.”

Georgetown Police Chief Darin Allgood said police were pursuing the driver at about 6 a.m. Tuesday because they thought he was impaired.

The driver made a U-turn at Burton Pike and started driving south on U.S. 25, then crossed the center line of the road and hit the other vehicle, Allgood said.

The driver of the second vehicle was killed, and the impaired driver was taken to the hospital, Allgood said.

The crash left U.S. 25 North closed from Green Acres to Pebble Beach Drive, the Georgetown Police Department said.

The Scott County Sheriff’s Office will be the lead agency investigating the collision.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

This story was originally published May 30, 2023 at 11:21 AM.