MARIETTA, Ga. — A 31-year-old Marietta man was sentenced to 26 years in prison after assaulting a federal agent and selling several kilos of methamphetamine, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
According to USDOJ, Cedrick Hill was trying to evade arrest when he drove a vehicle at high speed while a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent was “stuck in the driver’s side door of the defendant’s truck.” That caused the agent to be hospitalized for two weeks and live through a lengthy recovery.
U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said the Hill faced a 30-defendant indictment alleging a variety of gang-related and drug-related offenses in Oct. 2017.
Specifically, Buchanan said court documents showed Hill was charged with supplying gang members with about six kilograms of meth in two separate drug sales. Hill tried to avoid arrest by going into hiding, then traveling to multiple states by bus and in rental cars, according to prosecutors.
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After they found Hill in Jan. 2018 at a Sandy Springs hotel, federal agents tried to arrest him.
USDOJ said Hill initially complied, but then “suddenly began resisting as the agent began to handcuff him.”
Hill then ran through the hotel lobby, jumped over a counter and “bolted from the hotel with the agent in pursuit.”
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Then, Hill got into his truck, climbed into the driver’s seat, and the agent followed him, getting “lodged in the driver’s side door.”
“Determined to escape at all costs, this defendant gravely injured an FBI agent in the line of duty,” Buchanan said, describing the incident. “No sentence can remedy the physical and emotional harm suffered by the agent because of Hill’s conduct, but hopefully this sentence will cause others to think twice before risking harm to law enforcement officers during the performance of their duties.”
According to the USDOJ, Hill drove at a high rate of speed while dragging the FBI agent, “crushing him at various points of impact in an attempt to shake the agent loose, and breaking the agent’s arm and femur.”
The agent was able to fire his weapon and hit Hill twice, but Hill kept driving, left the hotel parking lot and crossed Interstate 285 before he turned down an access road, officials said.
After dragging the agent nearly a quarter mile, Hill stopped his truck, opened the door, and released the badly injured agent on the side of the road.
The agent called 911 and Sandy Springs police responded.
The agent told officers he believed Hill drove back to the hotel.
That’s where they found Hill, injured in the lobby.
Justice officials said the agent’s injuries were extensive and required hospitalization for two weeks, multiple surgeries, 18 months of rehabilitation, and permanent nerve damage to his arm, as well as other lasting injuries.
A U.S. District Judge sentenced Hill to 26 years in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release.
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