The driver who allegedly dragged and injured an Atlanta police officer Monday night will remain in jail without bond until a preliminary hearing later this month.
Atlanta police spokeswoman Kim Jones said Officer Kevin Thigpen and Officer C. Dupart were in the 700 block of McDaniel Street “when they observed a 2007 Hyundai Accent sitting in the roadway next to the railroad tracks with the driver slumped over the steering wheel.”
Jones said that both officers approached the vehicle, and Thigpen “was able to determine that the driver, Anna Dittmer, was possibly an impaired driver.”
A train approached on the nearby tracks, and when the train’s horn sounded, Dittmer was awakened and “attempted to flee the scene when she observed law enforcement,” Jones said.
“Officer Thigpen reached into the vehicle and attempted to apprehend the suspect, but was dragged by the vehicle, which crashed into a large pole,” Jones told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an email. “Officer Thigpen sustained lacerations and large abrasions to his head, arms and legs, as well as a fractured left hand.”
Thigpen was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for treatment. He has since been released from the hospital, Jones said.
Dittmer was arrested and charged with DUI drugs, serious injury by motor vehicle, reckless driving, driving while license suspended, improper stopping in roadway next to railroad tracks, giving false name to law enforcement, aggravated assault, felony obstruction and possession of methamphetamine, according to Jones.
Dittmer had a first appearance before a Fulton County magistrate judge on Tuesday, and the judge denied bond and set a preliminary hearing for July 15, according to Fulton jail spokeswoman Tracy Flanagan.
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