By Joe Johnson
A University of Georgia professor last week allegedly tried to flee from a police officer who tried stopping him for driving the wrong way on a one-way street in downtown Athens.
Cesar Escalante, a 62-year-old professor of agricultural and applied science, was diving a 2021 Nissan Rogue on College Avenue at about 7:10 p.m. Friday when he turned the wrong way onto Washington Street.
Another driver who was stopped at the intersection’s red light honked his horn to apparently alert Escalante, but the professor continued to drive the wrong way.
When a cop on bicycle patrol waved to get the professor’s attention, Escalante “swerved to the lane to my left to avoid me and accelerated away, changing lanes again,” the officer reported.
After stopping his vehicle, Escalante told the officer that he hadn’t seen him, despite the officer being highly visible in a yellow safety shirt, vest with reflective police logos and on a bicycle equipped with a headlight.
Identifying himself as a UGA professor, Escalante “further explained that he was running late for a dress rehearsal when he inadvertently turned onto the one-way street,” the officer noted in a report.
“Mr. Escalante said that the reason he changed lanes when he did was that he was trying to determine how best to correct his mistake of having turned the wrong way down a one way street,” the officer wrote. “This suggests to me that either his considered and deliberate course of action after having made the understandable error of turning down that street for two blocks while swerving around traffic, or that he was fleeing from the police.”
The officer issued summonses to the professor that cited him for the one-way street violation and misdemeanor fleeing and attempting to elude.
He further stated in a police incident report:
“I will submit a form to the DMV for a request for a driver review as, if Mr. Escalatnte’s statements are true, they suggest a deeply concerning inability to see or process stimuli while operating a motor vehicle. It seems to me the more probable explanation is he was deliberately fleeing from my attempt to stop him because the highest priority to Mr. Escalante was to move minimize his lateness to dress rehearsal, even if that meant driving the wrong way down the road and fleeing from a traffic stop.”