By Joe Johnson
Police are investigating the death of a man who was found with a fatal gunshot wound in a sink hole on a northeast Athens Clarke County roadway.
The investigation began at about 8 p.m. Sunday, when Ashley Smith of East Paces Drive called 911 to report that she and her boyfriend were in a pickup truck that had driven into a ditch on Olympic Drive and that her boyfriend was unresponsive, according to a police report
Responding officers found Micah Daniel Thorp, 37, also of East Paces Drive, dead from a gunshot wound, according to the police report; Thorp was said by Smith to have been driving the truck at the time of the crash.
Smith, who had been outside the truck screaming for help when police officers arrived, was removed from what police described as a sinkhole and during the rescue officers found a gun near Thorp, according to the report.
A police official said it appeared that the gun caused Thorp’s death, but detectives were awaiting ballistics tests as part of their investigation.