A car chase that spanned two northwest Georgia counties Friday ended when a Georgia State Patrol trooper assisting local police shot and injured the suspect.
Following the chase and subsequent shooting, 27-year-old Shannon Thompson of Aragon was taken to Floyd Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the arm, the GBI said in a statement.
The chase began in Aragon in Polk County and led local police to request assistance from the GSP, according to a news release from the Georgia Department of Public Safety.
An Aragon police officer spotted Thompson’s vehicle and tried to pull it over about 11 p.m., the GBI said. When Thompson did not stop, the officer began chasing his car.
A trooper based in Cartersville responded and became involved in the chase.
After the chase crossed into Bartow County, the trooper tried to use a PIT maneuver to stop Thompson’s car, the GBI said. The car left the road and slid into a field off Main Street in Taylorsville, the agency said.
“Thompson then drove out of the field towards the trooper who was standing in the roadway,” the GBI said. “As Thompson drove his vehicle towards the trooper, the trooper fired several shots at the vehicle, striking Thompson in the arm.”
Thompson began driving away again, and police chased him back into Polk County. The trooper tried to execute a second PIT maneuver, but Thompson rammed his vehicle into the trooper’s cruiser, the GBI said.
The impact caused Thompson to lose control and crash into a ditch, according to the GBI. Thompson got out of the smashed vehicle and ran into a nearby wooded area. A trooper deployed his Taser on Thompson and took him into custody.
The GBI has been asked to conduct an independent investigation into the shooting by GSP, and the DPS Office of Professional Standards is conducting an internal investigation, the agency said.
This is the 53rd shooting involving law enforcement officers to be investigated by the GBI this year. It’s the seventh shooting involving GSP troopers in 2021.
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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