COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — A Coweta County deputy's use of force in a shooting that left a man paralyzed last year was justified, according to the district attorney's office. Body camera video captured the encounter.
11Alive is not releasing the man's identity because he may have been experiencing a mental health crisis.
District Attorney John Cranford released his office's findings Monday. Authorities said that in the early morning hours of April 18, 2021, Newnan officers were flagged down after a car was stolen along Amlajack Boulevard. The victim said an old friend from high school asked for a ride while at a gas station, but the man jumped into the driver's seat of the car and took off.
The district attorney's office said authorities from multiple agencies pursued the vehicle on I-85. The suspect wrecked the car near mile marker 48 and ran toward the woods. Law enforcement set up a perimeter but didn't find him until about 10 hours later; he was walking through a nearby PetSmart distribution center parking lot. He allegedly ran away again with a gun in his hand.
Around noon, a deputy saw the man again near the Whitlock Recreation Center and started chasing him in his police car. The deputy's body camera video shows the law enforcement officer pointing his taser out of the window and asking the suspect to get on the ground. Authorities said the suspect looked back with the gun in his right hand. That's when the deputy deployed the taser, but it didn't "incapacitate" the suspect.
They said the suspect then fired a shot at the deputy's patrol car and continued running. Cranford's office said the deputy then fired eight rounds and the suspect was hit in the back.
"This deputy and other deputies then took defensive positions to protect themselves from any return fire," the district attorney's office said.
They added that investigators later determined that his gun was stolen earlier that day from a vehicle in the PetSmart distribution center parking lot.
In light of the circumstances, the district attorney's office said the deputy was justified in his use of force and there is "insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the deputy committed a crime." Cranford's office said the matter is closed and they have decided not to prosecute the deputy for the shooting.
The suspect's injuries left him paralyzed. The district attorney's office said the man's father previously got him into a mental health treatment facility, but he ran away prior to this incident. His father was trying to get him back into custody when these events unfolded.