An off-duty Georgia State University officer shot a man who tried to attack her at a Greyhound bus station Monday night, according to police.
“My officer encountered a person that was acting in an inappropriate manner and tried to get him to leave,” GSU police Chief Joseph Spillane said late Monday.
The officer, whose name was not released, used pepper spray on the man when he began to attack her, Spillane said.
The GBI identified the man as 38-year-old William Savalas Davis.
“She felt in fear for her life and felt the need to pull that weapon out,” Spillane said.
The shooting happened about 7:30 p.m. at the bus station in the 200 block of Forsyth Street. The officer was not in uniform but was working a part-time job as a security guard.
According to the GBI, Davis was inside “the bus station acting erratically and harassing other patrons.”
“Davis was not cooperative and struggled with the officer,” GBI spokesman Bahan Rich said.
Davis was shot in the shoulder. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was in stable condition Tuesday, Rich said.
The officer was not injured. She is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, Spillane said.
Witness Sterling Hill Bey told Channel 2 Action News he saw the whole thing.
Davis “was running around here taking off his clothes,” he said. “He was really kinda scaring a bunch of people. This was before he even went in, and once he went in, he continued to be a problem even with the security.”
The GBI is assisting with the investigation, which is standard protocol in use-of-force cases.
EXCLUSIVE: Over the Line: Police shootings in Georgia
INTERACTIVE: Mapping officer-involved shootings
In 2017, the GBI investigated 95 officer-involved shootings. So far this year there have been more than 24 such cases.
In other news:
About the Author
