A Georgia police officer hit a fleeing suspect with a car, resulting in the cop being fired the following day.
The officer was involved in a vehicle pursuit incident, reports CBS 46.
On Friday June 1, 2018, Athens-Clarke County police officers Taylor Saulters and Hunter Blackmon came in contact with Timmy Patmon near a neighborhood intersection.
The officers recognized Patmon and knew he had felony warrants. Patmon ran when he saw the officers, which is when Blackmon jumped out of the patrol vehicle and began chasing Patmon on foot.
However, Saulters stayed in the patrol vehicle and began driving after Patmon, attempting to cut Patmon off with the patrol vehicle, but Patmon was elusive enough to elude him.
That was when Saulters tried for a second time to cut Patmon off with the patrol vehicle, but instead Saulters drove the vehicle directly into Patmon, the video shows.
Patmon was propelled onto the patrol vehicle’s windshield and then thrown to the ground by the impact.
With obvious bruises, scratches, and other minor injuries Patmon was cuffed and taken to a hospital for treatment. Patmon was eventually taken to the Clarke County jail on charges of obstructing a law enforcement officer and violating probation.
Following the incident, Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Scott Freeman put Saulters on administrative leave and began an internal affairs investigation.
The very next day Saulters was fired. In a news release, the department said:
“After reviewing the officers’ body camera footage, and all the other facts and circumstances of this case Chief Scott Freeman terminated the employment of Officer Taylor Saulters.”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is also conducting its own investigation into the matter.