East Point police officer dragged by carjacking suspect

An East Point police officer was recovering Tuesday after being dragged by a car during a confrontation with a carjacking suspect.

Shortly after noon Tuesday, officers spotted a car parked at Willingham Drive and Vivian Sykes Road that matched the description of a vehicle carjacked two days earlier from College Park, East Point police spokesman Detective Cliff Chandler said.

After the driver refused to get out, “an officer tried to remove the driver from the car” and went into the window of the car, Chandler said.

The driver dragged the officer 30 to 40 feet along the street, Chandler said. The officer fired one shot into the car, but didn’t hit the suspect, police said. The officer escaped, but it’s unknown if he was thrown out or wrestled free of the driver’s grasp.

Hapeville police joined the chase, which ended when the suspect slammed the stolen car into another vehicle on North Street and Dogwood Drive in Hapeville, police said.

The officer, whom Chandler would not name, was taken to a nearby hospital with “bumps and bruises” and is in stable condition.

Chandler said the suspect probably will be charged with aggravated assault, fleeing and eluding police and theft by receiving.

Police would not identify the suspect because authorities are trying to determine his part in the carjacking.