7-Time Felon Convicted Of DUI & Police Chase Through Marietta

MARIETTA, GA -- A seven-time felon was sentenced to eight years in prison for leading police on a 16-mile chase and driving under the influence, Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds recently announced.

The incident happened on New Year’s Eve 2015, when Cobb officers spotted Rossville resident Ronald Wayne Kidd, now 55, driving a white Kia Sedona that had been reported stolen in a carjacking in Tennessee.

A caravan of police cruisers eventually followed Kidd as he hit speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour trying to elude officers in a chase from West Cobb to Cherry Street near the Marietta Square, the DA said. In the fiasco, an officer was injured when Kidd rear-ended his car.

Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Schwartz said that quick-thinking officers were in a race against time to stop Kidd as he approached crowds of revelers enjoying the festivities of the holiday.

“This Defendant passed through the Chili’s parking lot at The Avenue West Cobb, drove on the wrong side of the road on Barrett Parkway, and likely would have killed pedestrians if he had reached the Marietta Square, given that this was the night of the first New Years Eve celebration on the Square,” Schwartz, who prosecuted the case with Assistant District Attorney Richele Anderson, said in a news release.

“This case is also a poignant example of how our police officers risk life and limb each day to protect us,” Schwartz said.

On April 13, a Cobb jury convicted Kidd of multiple crimes including possession of cocaine, driving under the influence, reckless driving, simple assault on a police officer and three counts of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer.

On April 21, four days after the trial began, Kidd was sentenced by Cobb Superior Court Judge Robert E. Flournoy III. He is also facing extradition to Tennessee for carjacking charges there. Kidd was represented by Benjamin Goldberg of Mableton.
Image via Cobb County Sheriff's Office