Gwinnett County police on Friday released 911 audio of a neighbor who called for help after a man allegedly beat his own father to death with a crowbar.
The dead man’s wife ran into the neighbor’s home and could be heard crying and asking the neighbor to tell police to “hurry.”
“She’s very upset,” the neighbor said.
He told police the wife didn’t believe the son, 40-year-old Joseph Cook, used a weapon, alcohol or drugs in the beating.
Gwinnett police Cpl. Michele Pihera said the wife may not have seen the crowbar, but police confirmed it was the weapon used in the attack that killed 68-year-old Larry Cook.
“He was on the ground and bleeding when she left and ran over here,” the neighbor said.
The incident started with an argument Tuesday in the driveway of the the family’s home on Bridle Glen Drive in Buford, police said.
That argument escalated, and Larry Cook called 911 at 6:19 p.m., Pihera said.
“The dispatcher could hear yelling and someone requesting police,” Pihera said. “The phone line disconnected a few minutes later.”
Then, the neighbor called 911 to report the attack. Officers later found the crowbar on the scene, Pihera said.
The father died from blunt force trauma. Afterward, Joseph Cook went inside the home and told his stepmother what he had done, investigators told Channel 2 Action News.
Gwinnett officers took Joseph Cook into custody.
“While he was at our headquarters, he physically assaulted one of our officers, and that officer is being treated for facial injuries,” Pihera said.
The officer is expected to be OK.
According to the Georgia Department of Corrections website, Joseph Cook was sentenced on Oct. 25, 2013, to 20 years for aggravated assault in Troup County.
He was on parole at the time of the attack.
He was in the Gwinnett County Detention Center on Friday on charges of aggravated assault, murder, parole violation, aggravated battery against law enforcement on duty and obstruction of a law enforcement officer, according to online jail records. He was being held there without bond.
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