A firefighter with the Augusta Fire Department died Thursday night after shooting himself at the end of a chase with Columbia County deputies.
Damien Taitague, 35, was pronounced deceased at Doctors Hospital, authorities said. A LinkedIn page says he had been full-time with the fire department since January 2022.
The chase started with a routine traffic stop and escalated into a pursuit Thursday night when Taitague failed to pull over for deputies on Lewiston Road in Grovetown.
Around 9:20 p.m., a Columbia County deputy spotted a white Ford F-150 traveling without headlights and swerving off the roadway near Columbia Road. The deputy attempted a traffic stop at Lewiston Road and Mill Branch Road, but the driver briefly pulled over before fleeing south, a sheriff’s report says.
The vehicle continued erratically down Lewiston Road, weaving between lanes before turning onto William Few Parkway. At one point, the truck crossed a center median before finally stopping near the rear entrance of Kroger.
Deputies surrounded the vehicle and issued commands for the driver to exit, but saw no movement due to the truck’s dark window tint.
“Deputies approached the driver’s side of the vehicle, the driver was hunched over, with blood coming from the head,” a sheriff’s report says. “We made entry into the vehicle by breaking the passenger’s side window. The driver sustained a self-inflicted gunshot to the head and was still breathing. EMS and fire responded.”
Taitague was pronounced deceased at Doctors Hospital.
His LinkedIn page says he worked various jobs before he came to the fire department, including previous work as shipping assistant, operator, sales associate at an Athens gun shop and maintenance worker for Columbia County. He went to the University of North Georgia and Kennesaw State University for marketing.
It’s unclear why he didn’t stop for officers. He had a 2020 DUI arrest in Columbia County, which no longer shows up in the county’s case management, suggesting it was dismissed.
The Augusta Fire Department released this statement Friday:
