The man who fled from Covington police and was shot by a “concerned citizen” on Saturday was wanted in Gwinnett County on an obstruction of an officer charge, police said.
Terence Lee Lennox allegedly crashed his car and ran from police after officers received reports of him driving erratically, Covington police Sgt. Craig Treadwell said. Lennox remained in Grady Memorial Hospital in critical condition Monday afternoon.
According to Gwinnett jail records, Lennox was arrested Dec. 22 in the obstruction case and bailed out of jail Jan. 6. Treadwell said Lennox was due in court for the charges, but he failed to appear and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. He also faces a shoplifting charge.
It is not known if Lennox’s brush with Covington police was related to the Gwinnett County crime.
Treadwell said police initially received calls about 7 a.m. Saturday about a white SUV driving erratically on Ga. 36 toward Covington Square. The driver was later identified as Lennox.
“By the time officers got there and spotted him, he took off,” Treadwell said. “He ran so many traffic stops and lights that officers never caught up with him before he crashed.”
Lennox ran into another vehicle at Highway 278 and Pace Street, police said. No one in that car was injured. Lennox then got out of his car and ran toward Newton Plaza, where he encountered 46-year-old Marcus Pitts.
Pitts saw Lennox running from the crash scene, blocked him with his truck and started firing shots, police said.
Pitts, who Treadwell called a “concerned citizen,” was arrested and charged with aggravated assault. He spent the weekend in the Newton County jail and bonded out Monday, Treadwell said.
Police do not believe the men knew each other.
Lennox’s friend, Barry Bellamy, told Channel 2 Action News that if Pitts was concerned he should’ve just detained him instead of shooting him.
“(Terence) is still fighting for his life,” Bellamy said. “So we still don't know the outcome. He's going to go home and drink tea, is that justice? Not to me. For this guy to take measures into his own hands ... and now he's getting out on $25,000 bond, that makes me sick.”
Treadwell said it will be up to the courts to decide if Pitts, who had no prior arrests, walks free: “He will have to go through the court system to see if he was within the law to use deadly force.”
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