A Clarkston police officer was treated at a hospital Sunday after he was hit by a vehicle whose driver was fleeing the scene of a shooting, officials said.
Officer W. Hinton, who has been with the department since January, suffered minor injuries and is expected to make a full recovery. Another officer fired on the vehicle but did not strike its driver, according to the GBI.
The state agency is investigating the incident as an officer-involved shooting, its 25th such investigation opened this year.
Clarkston police were called to a domestic violence incident at the Clarkston Station Apartments on Montreal Creek Circle shortly after 12:40 a.m. Sunday. The caller reported that one person was armed.
“Upon arrival, officers encountered Reginald Maurice Gadson, 29, in a parking lot,” GBI spokeswoman Natalie Ammons said. “While attempting to make contact with Gadson, he entered a nearby vehicle and sped toward the officers. One officer was struck by the vehicle while a second officer fired at Gadson.”
They were able to use traffic cameras to take down the vehicle’s tag number, and it was later spotted in the driveway of a Stone Mountain home by DeKalb County police.
“Detectives from our agency were able to obtain arrest warrants for the suspect, as well as search warrants for the residence and vehicle,” Clarkston police said in a statement. “DeKalb County Police SWAT executed the warrants at the location in Stone Mountain and the subject surrendered without further incident.”
Gadson was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault on an officer related to the officer-involved shooting. He is also facing two counts of criminal damage to property after Clarkston police found two vehicles with multiple bullet holes in the parking lot of the Clarkston Station Apartments. They believe Gadson shot the vehicles before officers arrived Sunday morning.
“We recovered several pistol caliber shell casings at the location,” the police department said.
The incident remains under investigation by the GBI. 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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