An off-duty police officer was in critical condition Friday afternoon after being struck by a man allegedly driving on a suspended license.
Tony Maurice Hill, 31, of Atlanta, was also cited with failure to maintain lane and driving on the wrong side of the roadway for the Friday morning wreck in the 600 block of Moreland Avenue, Atlanta police said. The wreck temporarily blocked Moreland in both directions near Pendleton Street.
Hill told officers he was driving southbound on Moreland when he was suddenly on the other side of the street, where he struck Anthony Rushin’s vehicle, according to Sgt. Greg Lyon.
Rushin, an off-duty MARTA officer, had to be extricated from his vehicle after the 7 a.m. wreck before being transported to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition hours later, a MARTA spokesperson said. Rushin has been with MARTA since 2000. He has been an officer since 2009.
Hill was also transported to Grady, where he was being treated for a broken leg and pulmonary contusion, Lyon said. Two juveniles believed to have been passengers in Hill’s vehicle were transported to the hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries, according to police.
A witness told police Hill was traveling at a high rate of speed when he swerved into the northbound lane, striking Rushin’s vehicle head-on, Lyon said.
Hill’s license was suspended April 11 following a February violation, according to police.
He spent more than two years in prison following a conviction on cocaine charges in 2005, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. Investigators did not suspect drugs or alcohol in the Friday crash.
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