A man was arrested after he allegedly collided with a police car and another vehicle while fleeing from an Alpharetta officer.
Officer Mark Tappan was performing a business check at a hotel Sunday when he recognized a car from an incident in February, according to a police report. In that incident last month, Nicholas Webb allegedly fled after Tappan approached his SAAB, smelled marijuana and asked him to get out of the car.
When Tappan saw the car again Sunday, “the lights came on and he accelerated from (his parking) spot at my vehicle,” the officer’s report says. To try and prevent the vehicle from leaving, Tappan put his vehicle in reverse and the SAAB collided with the police car, hitting it on the rear driver side.
The SAAB sped around the back of the hotel, the report says. Tappan stayed put because Webb’s car couldn’t leave the parking lot without passing him. Then he saw a man run into the woods.
The officer went to the SAAB and found “broken glass” and a “plastic bag of 27 grams of marijuana” a few feet away. Tappan hadn’t seen it on his first pass, and there wasn’t any other foot traffic in the area, according to the report.
Tappan deployed his K9 partner Mattis, a German shepherd certified to detect drugs. The report notes Mattis "went directly to the driver door of the SAAB, his sniffing increased, tail began to wag, ears perked" and he sat and stared at the driver door. The car was towed to an evidence bay.
Another officer was waiting for it to be impounded when Webb, 27, arrived and said he had hit another vehicle after he collided with (the) police car and he “felt bad,” the report said.
He was placed under arrest for duty to stop at an accident and possession of marijuana less than an ounce, and was taken to the Fulton County Jail Alpharetta Annex.
Attempts to reach Webb Wednesday were unsuccessful.
His mother, Dannette, said her son is being harassed and is a victim of racial profiling.
“They know he’s not a bad kid,” she said.
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