Smyrna officer in fatal shooting returns to work

The Smyrna cop who fatally shot a man police feared was trying to run them over with a Maserati is back on the job.

Sgt. Kenneth Owens has returned to work "in an administrative role," Smyrna Officer Chris Graeff confirmed by email Saturday. An investigation of the shooting being conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is still underway and Graeff said there was no word yet on when it would be finished.

On March 24th, Owens and other officers were at a Cumberland Parkway tire store trying to serve an employee with an arrest warrant stemming from a probation violation. Nicholas Taft Thomas, 25, had been sentenced to probation twice in the past two years, for a drug charge and for aggravated assault against a police officer. In the latter case, he was accused of “driving and accelerating” his car in the direction of a Kennesaw State University officer who had tried to stop him for speeding.

Police on the scene said that was just what happened outside the Goodyear store. Thomas tried to run over officers in a customer’s Maserati rather than submit to arrest, they said, and Owens shot in self-defense. Cobb officers provided backup for the Smyrna police but did not fire their weapons.

Lawyers hired by Thomas’ family have challenged the official account and early on questioned the decision to have Cobb County police lead the investigation into the fatal shooting. Three days after Thomas’s parents met with Smyrna’s police chief, Cobb District Attorney Vic Reynolds, along with Cobb police, requested that the GBI take over the investigation

Owens was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. He was hired by Smyrna in 2001 and was previously employed by Cobb police for five years. He resigned in March 1999, 10 days after he was arrested for simple battery following a fight with his wife.