Video: Sergeant Stops Driver who Pulls Gun on Fellow Ga. Deputy
A combative armed driver turned a traffic stop into a brief chase before he was fatally shot when he pulled a gun and threatened a Georgia deputy last week.
The incident happened shortly before 1:30 a.m. Friday when a Jones County Sheriff's Office sergeant pulled over a man—identified as Ronald Evans—for being in a park past closing time, WMAZ-TV reports. From the start, Evans was argumentative with the deputy, cursing at him and questioning whether the sergeant was a sworn peace officer.
Unexpectedly, Evans sped away from the scene, kicking off a vehicle pursuit. Evans' Jeep had no doors on it, and his prosthetic leg was hanging out the side of the vehicle as he fled.
Other deputies responded to the chase and unsuccessfully tried to use a PIT maneuver to stop the fleeing vehicle. The pursuit finally ended when Evans at a grocery store parking lot.
At that point, Evans exited his vehicle and drew a weapon on a deputy. The sergeant who made the initial stop opened fire, and Evans was fatally shot.
In his review of the incident, Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale determined that the shooting was justified and that he would not charge the deputy or send the case to a grand jury.
Barksdale reviewed the video, which showed Walker shooting Evans after the suspect pulled out a gun, threatening the life of another deputy.
While many agencies typically bring the Georgia Bureau of Investigations to investigate their own officers, agencies are not required to under the law, or even to call in an outside agency at all.
