COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A driver crashed into the back of a Cobb County police officer’s car and shut down Interstate 20 for hours on Wednesday.
Police said the driver didn’t move over, even though the officer had emergency lights on.
The crash happened near Riverside Parkway exit on I-20. Triple Team Traffic’s Mike Shields reported as lanes reopened as Channel 2 Action News This Morning starting at 4:30 a.m. went on the air.
Cobb County police said the officer responded to an earlier crash and turned on the car’s emergency lights to warn drivers about the crash.
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That is when police told Channel 2 Action News that Kennedy Scott, 23, didn’t move over in a 2010 Toyota Prius and hit the officer’s patrol car.
The impact pushed the car into the median concrete wall and Scott’s Prius went off the road and landed in an embankment.
“When you see flashing blue, red, or amber lights, slow down and move over. That law exists for a reason,” Cobb County police said. “One moment of inattention can change a life.”
The officer had minor injuries. Paramedics took Scott to Grady Memorial Hospital with serious injuries.
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It’s not the first time a driver has side-swiped a Cobb County police cruiser.
Last November, police told Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell that a driver side-swiped a cruiser and didn’t stop until another officer went after him.
“You should be traveling, buzzing by as fast as you can, you should get over one fill lane,” Sgt. Eric Smith, CCPD, told Newell.
You can see extensive damage to police cruisers in different Cobb County jurisdictions over the years, thankfully the officers made it out of all of the crashes alive.
In 2025 alone, Kennesaw police said they saw more than 100 move-over law violations and 75 drivers were cited.
In Smyrna, the numbers were trending down since 2021, but the police department recorded a spike in 2025. Officers wrote over 100 tickets in 2025 and already have 40 tickets issued in just this past January.
“It happens occasionally but keep in mind if a vehicle is moving at 45, 50 mph and it hits a stationary vehicle, that crash is going to be significant,” Smith said. “Someone can be hurt, killed. That one full lane gives us a buffer or safety zone to work in. Same thing with wrecker drivers.”
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