Marietta police fatally shot a driver accused of pinning an officer between two vehicles and dragging the officer through the parking lot of a motel Thursday night, officials said.
Two officers approached the driver, identified by the GBI as 26-year-old Rafael Esteban Ramirez of Atlanta, while he was sitting in a vehicle outside the Motel 6 on Delk Road. The officers had been on patrol in the area before making contact with Ramirez shortly before 6:30 p.m., according to the state agency.
During the interaction, Ramirez allegedly reversed his car, hitting a marked police car, GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said in a news release.
“Ramirez put the car in drive and accelerated, pinning an officer between the marked car and his own, and dragging and injuring the officer,” Miles said. “Officers fired their weapons at Ramirez, hitting him.”
Both Ramirez and the officer were taken to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, where Ramirez was pronounced dead. The officer was treated for undisclosed injuries and later released.
According to Channel 2 Action News, the two Marietta officers were attempting to stop Ramirez as a suspicious person. Witnesses told the news station Ramirez was trying to drive away from the officers, who were positioned behind the man’s car.
“He said, ‘I don’t want to talk.’ That’s all he yelled and he kept trying to pursue to leave out of the premises,” witness Latoya Moultrie said. “They backed up, drew their weapon and fired five shots.”
The GBI is conducting an independent investigation at the request of Marietta police. It is the state agency’s 66th officer-involved shooting to investigate 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.
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