A deputy was struck by a vehicle and injured Wednesday evening while trying to recover a stolen vehicle in Columbus, according to the GBI.
A Muscogee County deputy was stopped by a FedEx driver around 7 p.m. after his car was stolen from a Circle K gas station along Veterans Parkway, the GBI said Monday. Authorities were able to track the car to the intersection of Toney Drive and Buford Avenue through the man’s package scanner, which was still in the car at the time it was stolen, the GBI said.
Deputies initiated a traffic stop on the stolen car with one deputy blocking the car from the front and the other from the back, the GBI said. That was when the suspect backed into the patrol car and then pulled forward, hitting a deputy in the leg, the GBI said.
Both deputies shot at the car as the suspect drove away, according to the GBI.
The FedEx package scanner was eventually found at the intersection of Victory and Engineer drives, the GBI said.
The stolen car was found abandoned the following night. It was hit twice by bullets, but it did not appear that the gunfire penetrated the car and hit the driver, according to the GBI. Police have not located or identified the suspect.
The Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office requested the GBI to conduct an investigation, the 94th officer-involved shooting the agency has investigated 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.
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
About the Author
