A Newnan police officer was stabbed while trying to apprehend a man at a Coweta County mall Sunday, police said.
Tanner Hand, 25, is facing charges of aggravated assault, theft by shoplifting, obstruction of law enforcement and other drug offenses.
The incident happened while the officer was working a security job at Ashley Park mall and noticed a man shoplifting from a Dillard’s store, according to an incident report obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A chase ensued, and the officer was quickly able to catch up and “gain control of the individual,” the report states.
That’s when the suspect stabbed the officer in the hand right below the wrist, according to police.
Though Hand claimed he didn’t mean to stab anyone, the injured officer said the man told him “he could not go back to prison.”
Another officer who responded to the incident wrote in the report that he saw what looked to be a kitchen knife and “a steady stream of blood originating” from the officer’s hand.
After placing Hand into handcuffs, officers began searching him and said they found psilocybin mushrooms and Xanax, which prompted his drug charges. According to the report, several of Hand’s bags contained stolen clothing that equated to about $1,465.
Before being booked into the Coweta jail, Hand was taken to the hospital for injuries sustained during the arrest, the report states. Police did not say what injuries Hand suffered, only that they were “apparent.”
Authorities said the injured officer has since returned to work.
Hand has not served time in a Georgia prison, according to the Department of Corrections. He was sentenced to 15 years on probation after being found guilty of terroristic threats and criminal damage to property as a first-time offender in 2019 in Bulloch County, court records show. In two separate 2019 cases in Bulloch, Hand received 10 years on probation for false imprisonment and five years on probation for first-offender theft by taking.
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