A North Georgia sheriff’s deputy is out of a job and facing criminal charges after he was accused of firing his gun during a traffic stop.
Michael Norton Davis, 35, left the Oglethorpe County Sheriff’s Office at some point between the shooting incident Monday and his arrest Thursday on two counts of aggravated assault, according to the GBI. It was unclear if he was fired or stepped down voluntarily.
He surrendered at the Clarke County Jail and has since been released from custody, online jail records show.
According to the GBI, Davis attempted to stop a 27-year-old Athens man for speeding on U.S. 78 in Oglethorpe County. Patrouski Hodges eventually pulled over in Clarke County, stopping his car on the right side of the road.
“During the incident, Deputy Davis’ patrol car struck Hodges’ car,” the GBI said in a news release. “Davis got out of his car and gave verbal commands to Hodges. Hodges proceeded to drive away. Deputy Davis fired three shots at the car, striking the car twice.”
A pursuit ensued, and Hodges stopped again along Greyfriars Road in Athens, which is in the jurisdiction of the Athens-Clarke County Police Department. That department requested the GBI to investigate.
According to the state agency, no shots were fired and no one was injured at the end of the pursuit.
Hodges was arrested on traffic charges and taken to the Oglethorpe County jail. His passenger was taken to a hospital to be checked for any injuries as a precaution, the GBI said.
The agency said it would continue its investigation and turn its findings over to the Clarke County district attorney. The shooting was the 21st investigated by the state agency this year, following a deadly shooting in Carroll County on Monday that left three officers injured.
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.
Davis was hired by the Oglethorpe sheriff’s office in 2017 after three years as a Clarke County jailer, according to his Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) record. His law enforcement certification was in good standing prior to his arrest, and he had no disciplinary history with POST, which sets training standards and serves as a regulatory body for police officers.
The AJC has reached out to the Oglethorpe County Sheriff’s Office for a statement on Davis’ arrest.
— AJC data specialist Jennifer Peebles contributed to this article.
