A Georiga State Patrol trooper inspects the crash scene that killed the passenger of the car. The driver fled and police were still looking for the person Tuesday night. (Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen)

DALTON, Ga. — Georgia State Patrol investigators were working into the evening Tuesday as authorities  searched for the driver of a black Cadillac after a single-car wreck on Reed Road claimed the life of a man.

State Trooper Abraham Chiesa did not release the name of the victim or the driver, but said the wreck just south of Rauschenberg Road in the northwest corner of Whitfield County appeared to have been caused by a combination of reckless driving and speed.

Capt. Rick Swiney with the sheriff’s office said authorities had identified the driver of the vehicle, but he had not been found Tuesday evening after leaving the scene of the wreck on foot. Chiesa said a witness described the driver as having a bleeding gash on his forehead.

A 42-year-old white male died at the scene and was still strapped into the passenger seat of the 2003 Cadillac CTS as crash reconstruction specialists worked into the evening. A tow truck was still waiting around 6:30 p.m., nearly five hours after the wreck was reported at 1:41 p.m.

According to Chiesa, the Cadillac was being driven north on Reed Road from Reed Pond Road. Witnesses heard loud acceleration as it approached a hill. Chiesa said the car went into the southbound lane coming over the hill, the driver overcorrected and then the car went off the east shoulder of the road, with the vehicle rotating counterclockwise and then hitting a tree on the driver’s side. The passenger was killed instantly.