Scott York barely had a smear on his record before he was fired by Gwinnett County police on Tuesday.
Since graduating from the police academy in April 2016, York had been involved in three use of force incidents, each of which had been found justified, according to the ex-officer’s file obtained by Channel 2 Action News.
York’s clean record also earned him a promotion to senior officer in September.
All of that went away when police say York slammed his car into two teens as he was trying to pass another car on the way to a pedestrian hit call. Police say he also hit two cars.
Officials say York was responding to a personal injury traffic accident, which is considered a Code 2 response. It was later determined York violated department policy when he was going more than 60 mph over the 40-mph speed limit before the Sunday night accident.
According to section 440.02 of the department’s general directives manual, during a Code 2 response an officer can have “intermittent use of emergency lights and siren is authorized to proceed through intersections and congested areas ... at no time shall the posted speed limit be exceeded.”
Police concluded that York was going 97 mph based on the marks on the pavement and black box data. His blue lights and siren were also activated at the time.
No charges have been filed against York in the incident, which is troublesome to victim Joel Melendez-Coreas.
“He has to pay for what he did,” Melendez-Coreas told Channel 2.
Melendez-Coreas said he still has bruises on his leg from the incident and his cousin, 16-year-old Jose Coreas-Mejia is still in the hospital.
“He moved his body, but he is still unconscious,” Melendez-Coreas said.
York’s Lawyer Lawrence Zimmerman said in a statement released Friday that his client was bleeding from his own injuries when he aided the injured teens until another officer arrived.
In a statement through his lawyer, York said “he is praying for the speedy recovery of these two young men and looks forward to meeting them in the future.”
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