A man shot twice by a Villa Rica officer had crashed into two police vehicles and led authorities on a chase, GBI officials said during a news conference Thursday morning.
The Athens man, identified as 30-year-old Daniel Daigle, also turned out to be wanted on a failure to appear and forgery charge as well as a felony warrant on a methamphetamine possession charge.
But officers had no knowledge of the warrants at the time of the shooting, authorities said.
Villa Rica police officers responded to an alarm call at the Easy Quick Shop gas station at about 4:30 a.m. at 1607 Bankhead Highway, according to the GBI.
When they arrived, they found the man pumping air in his tires, GBI spokesman Chris DeMarco said.
While one officer went inside the business to check on the alarm incident, another officer questioned the man outside and asked for identification.
Before the officer outside could run his information, Daigle started to pull forward past the air pump, DeMarco said.
The officer told him not to leave until the investigation was finished, and at some point another officer joined him outside with the man.
“At that time, the subject then pulled forward toward the officers’ vehicle,” DeMarco said.
Daigle backed up with a vehicle door open and hit an electric pole and air pump before driving forward into two police vehicles, DeMarco said.
“One of the officers actually discharged his weapon twice,” DeMarco said. “We now know he struck the individual twice.”
That officer was identified Friday as Noah Tolbert.
Daigle then left the scene, leading to a brief chase before officers lost him. His vehicle was found about 5 miles away and the man was apprehended around 11 a.m. at a Temple home on Jennifer Lane, the GBI said.
“There was a subsequent amount of blood inside the vehicle,” DeMarco said.
Daigle was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital with injuries to a leg and arm. It’s unclear if he was involved in the alarm incident.
No officers were injured.
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