An officer with the Atlanta Police Department was critically injured Tuesday morning when he was struck by a suspected drunk driver while he was trying to perform an arrest. According to a report from 11 Alive, police were dispatched to an Exxon gas station on Jonesboro Road at around midnight on a report of a man threatening a woman with a weapon. Upon arriving at the scene, officers attempted to speak to the man before he ran off to a wooded area. They had followed the suspect on foot and were attempting to detain him. While the suspect was resisting arrest, he and one of the officers were struck by a vehicle that police stated appeared to be operated by a drunk driver.
The officer, who has been employed by the department for four years and has been working in the southeast Atlanta area, sustained multiple injuries in the accident and was transported to Grady Hospital, where he was reportedly in critical but stable condition. The suspect suffered non-life threatening injuries. He was arrested and charged with three counts of obstruction, one count of pedestrian in the roadway, and one count of discharging a controlled substance.
According to the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, more than 350 people die on roadways throughout the state each year as a result of alcohol impaired drivers, accounting for nearly a quarter of the state’s traffic fatalities. Alcohol creates deficits to the skills a driver needs to operate their vehicle safely, including the ability to track moving targets, respond adequately in emergency driving situations, control speed and lane position, and make good driving decisions.
If you’ve been injured by a drunk driver in the Atlanta region, an experienced car accident lawyer from Cambre & Associates can evaluate your claim for free, and tell you about the personal injury claims process that you can use to seek compensation for the expenses and psychological impacts of the injury. Contact us.