ATLANTA — Atlanta Police released new body camera and dash camera video on Wednesday that gives a little more insight into the efforts by officers to slow down a hijacked Gwinnett County transit bus last month.
On June 11, 39-year-old Joseph Grier allegedly hijacked a transit bus in Downtown Atlanta, where he was a passenger on the bus. Grier then allegedly got into a fight with a passenger on the bus, and when it escalated, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Grier took the passenger's weapon and shot and killed that man, later identified as 58-year-old Ernest Byrd Jr.
Grier is then accused of holding the driver of the bus at gunpoint and the other 17 passengers on board hostage as he forced the driver to lead a large law enforcement presence on a chase through several metro Atlanta counties.
The chase ultimately came to an end in Stone Mountain, where the bus was disabled. But new video released by Atlanta Police shows moments that officers used stop sticks to slow down the hijacked bus.
New video of hijacked bus chase
Atlanta Police released three separate videos that paint key moments during the pursuit.
In the first video, a seven-second dashcam video paints the scene as APD officers are tailing the bus on Interstate 85. The Gwinnett County transit bus is driving in the middle lanes of I-85 and a law enforcement vehicle is seen driving on the right shoulder to seemingly try and get ahead of the bus.
Cars are seen both stopped and pulling over to the shoulder of the interstate as the bus drives through.
In the second clip, a one-minute and 45-second bodycam video, an APD officer is shown directly next to the bus as the video begins.
Over the radio, another officer is heard saying: "Be careful, he's moving over. Be advised, everybody on the bus has got their hands up. Hey y'all, give him a way out. Give him a way out. Y'all back off and give him a way out," as the bus slows down and gets close to law enforcement vehicles.
As the bus gets away from law enforcement, it appears to speed up. In the video, the APD officer keeps his speed alongside the bus and is seen taking out his stop sticks in his hand, which he holds out the window for a brief moment.
The officer then speeds past the bus. As he drives up I-85, the officer gets himself in a position to get far enough ahead of the bus to throw out the sticks.
"Units be advised that the bus camera did confirm that the male does have a gun sitting behind the driver in a blue shirt," an officer says over the radio.
When the officer gets far enough ahead, he gets out of his patrol car and grabs the stop sticks from the back seat. As the bus gets closer, the officer throws the sticks in front of the bus, where it appears the bus runs them over.
The third video begins with an officer coming to a stop inside his patrol car on the shoulder of the interstate. With the bus approaching, he grabs the stop sticks and immediately runs out into traffic where a vehicle comes to a stop to allow the officer to be in good position to throw the stop sticks at the bus.
The officer gets close to the bus and throws the stop sticks out, wherein the third video clearly shows the bus running over the sticks designed to deflate the tires.
More on the suspect
Joseph Grier was charged with the following:
- Murder
- Kidnapping (14 counts)
- Hijacking a motor vehicle (1st Degree)
- Aggravated assault (14 counts)
- Possession of a firearm or knife during the commission of or attempt to commit certain felonies
- Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon
Grier was at another crime scene hours earlier, where three people were shot at the Peachtree Center mall. In the video interview with 11Alive, Grier is seen wearing a light grey shirt and holding a watch. He told 11Alive that he was in the Wells Fargo and hid during the shooting.
11Alive has also learned, per jail records, that Grier served time between October 2011 and November 2014.
In April 2011, he was convicted of multiple counts of aggravated assault on possession of a knife during a crime in Fulton County. A couple of years earlier, in 2008, he was convicted of aggravated assault in Cobb County, and in 2005 was convicted of child molestation in DeKalb County.