A 31-year-old Smyrna man is going back to prison after pleading guilty to charges in connection with the assault of a sheriff’s deputy.
Joseph Brandon Vanderkooi was sentenced to 20 years, with 10 to serve behind bars and the rest on probation, Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds’ office announced Tuesday.
On Oct. 25, 2013, Vanderkooi fled the scene after he hit a vehicle near the intersection of Austell and Windy Hill roads while driving under the influence of drugs, he admitted.
Jeff Potter, a uniformed Cobb deputy who had just left work, saw the incident and followed Vanderkooi’s 2000 Honda Accord to a stoplight, where he ordered Vanderkooi and his passengers to show their hands. Vanderkooi sped away as Potter opened the driver’s door to try to remove him from the vehicle, authorities said. Potter was dragged along and thrown to the ground.
Vanderkooi crashed into a Favor Road mobile home park and tried to hide in a trailer, but he was apprehended.
Potter was injured in the incident and “he will endure a lifetime of pain,” Greg Epstein, assistant district attorney, said in the news release.
Vanderkooi pleaded guilty to aggravated assault on a peace officer, aggravated battery on a peace officer, hit and run, and DUI-drugs charges. He had four previous felony convictions and was on parole at the time of the run-in with the deputy, authorities said.
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