During the middle of a South Georgia jail transport, a man is accused of trying to escape, which resulted in him being shot by an officer.
Roy Kyle Mathis, 48, was being transported to the Coffee County Jail from Lanier County on Tuesday night, the GBI said in a news release. While the transport was on Ga. 221 in Atkinson County, he’s accused of trying to escape, starting a struggle with a Lakeland police officer.
The officer shot Mathis, who was subsequently treated at the Coffee Regional Medical Center before being transferred to Savannah Memorial Hospital, the release said. No officers were injured during the incident.
It’s unclear what led to Mathis’ arrest and why he was being transported from Lakeland to Coffee County.
The GBI was called in to investigate the officer-involved shooting, which is the 36th such investigation the agency has opened this year. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also tracks officer-involved shootings that don't involve the GBI, and those numbers sometimes differ from the GBI's tally.
Atkinson, Coffee and Lanier counties all border each out in South Georgia, and Lakeland is Lanier’s county seat. The city is about 160 miles southwest of Savannah and about 225 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta.
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