A northwest Georgia police officer has been charged and fired from his job after a possible hit-and-run incident that injured a 3-year-old girl at a day care, according to an announcement.
Lt. Richard Penson was off-duty and driving his personal vehicle in the Dec. 17 incident, which happened about 5:15 p.m., the Rome Police Department said in a statement.
The accident occurred in the driveway of the Kids' Stop Learning Center, according to the announcement. Penson and the injured girl's mother were there to pick up their children, according to WSB.
“You hit my child,” the girl’s mother screamed, according to the police report.
“You hit my child!” A police lieutenant is out of a job after he allegedly hit a 3-year old girl with his car and took off. The accident happened at a daycare. Live at 5. @wsbtv pic.twitter.com/zsQhPQwAcr
— Chris Jose (@ChrisJoseWSB) December 28, 2018
Penson rolled his window down as the mother ran into the day care, the television station reported. He told Georgia State Patrol investigators he didn’t think he hit the child as he drove between cars in the parking lot and waited “a couple of minutes” before leaving.
The girl suffered an injured foot.
Pension is charged with reckless driving, hit-and-run (both misdemeanors) and second-degree cruelty to children (a felony). Penson surrendered at the Floyd County Jail on Friday.