A northwest Georgia police officer has been charged and fired from his job after a possible hit-and-run incident that injured a 3-year-old girl at a day care, according to an announcement.
Lt. Richard Penson was off-duty and driving his personal vehicle in the Dec. 17 incident, which happened about 5:15 p.m., the Rome Police Department said in a statement.
The accident occurred in the driveway of the Kids’ Stop Learning Center at 1700 Dean Avenue, according to the announcement. Penson and the injured girl’s mother were there to pick up their children, according to Channel 2 Action News.
“You hit my child,” the girl’s mother screamed, according to the police report.
Penson rolled his window down as the mother ran into the day care, Channel 2 reported. He told Georgia State Patrol investigators he didn’t think he hit the child as he drove between cars in the parking lot and waited “a couple of minutes” before leaving.
The girl suffered an injured foot.
Penson’s boss told the news station he worked for the department for 27 years and was a K-9 handler.
He is charged with reckless driving, hit-and-run (both misdemeanors) and second-degree cruelty to children (a felony). Penson surrendered at the Floyd County Jail on Friday.
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