An Atlanta Police detective run over nearly two years ago by a fleeing suspect’s car got what he asked for Friday — a chance to confront the man who nearly killed him and threatened his career.
After Khalif Kareem Edwards pleaded guilty to serious injury by vehicle, and police obstruction charges in the July 21, 2011, incident, the two men sat within arms’ reach and talked.
“I asked for the face-to-face with Mr. Edwards because I wanted to gage his level of remorse,” Patrick Apoian said. “It brought a lot of closure for both of us. There were some pretty personal things that we said to each other.”
Apoian, 42, suffered severe injuries – his pelvis was broken, leg and ribs broken, torn ligaments in his knee, and his spine dislocated – which have forced a long and tedious recovery and threatens to end his career as a result of the incident, prosecutors said.
“I’ve had nine procedures and I’m probably going to look at one or two more before I get back out there,” the 11-year APD veteran said. “Feet, shoulders, back, wrist, spine … it’s been a lot.”
Prosecutors said when Apoian and another detective working an off-duty job that night approached Edwards at a DeKalb County barbershop to question him about reports of a stolen cell phone, Edwards ran.
Edwards pushed his girlfriend out of the driver’s seat of the car she was in in an attempt to flee, prosecutors said.
Apoian gave pursuit and when he caught up to the car Edwards was driving, was run over and dragged across the parking lot.
Edwards, who was 29 at the time of the incident, was on the run for nearly a month after hitting Apoian and dragging him across a parking lot.
As he continued his recovery, Apoian garnered significant support from the metro area, and even got celebrity honor recognition from Mark Wahlberg, who was in Atlanta in January to promote the screening of his movie “Broken City” and honor city heroes.
In a DeKalb County courtroom Friday morning, Apoian watched as Edwards waffled over taking a negotiated deal for the 10-year sentence.
In the deal, DeKalb County Assistant District Attorney William Clark offered to drop felony aggravated assault of a police officer and aggravated battery charges and requested a face-to-face meeting between Edwards and Apoian. He also requested letters of apology from Edwards to the Atlanta Police Department, Apoian and to his family.
“For the first time today, (prosecutors) mentions pleading to additional charges and additional time,” defense attorney Tom Stubbs told DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Cynthia J. Becker. “We agreed to every jot and tittle of the offer made in the plea deal until this morning.”
The additional charges Stubbs referred to were from a 2008 robbery and theft by taking arrest for which Edwards initially had been sent to drug court, according to court records.
The case, however, remained open, and Becker had issued a bench warrant for Edwards’ arrest a little more than a month before his encounter with Apoian, according to court records.
Prosecutors asked Edwards to serve 10 years (seven in prison and three on probation) at the same time that he serves the original sentence.
He faced 56 years in prison if he were to lose at trial, Becker told Edwards.
“You need to listen to the advice of your attorneys,” she said.
Edwards spent 10 minutes in conference with Stubbs before accepting the 10-year deal.
After hearing the judge’s sentence for Edwards, the detective said the penalty wasn’t important to him.
“To be honest with you, I didn’t really care,” Apoian said. “I said they could’ve brought him out today.”
What Apoian hopes for is to return to active duty with APD.
“I don’t want to just be back to answer the phone,” he said. “I want to be back to do my job … and to get out there and protect people.”
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