Driver tried to run over deputies near busy shopping area, police say

COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — Police are investigating a shooting in Coweta County.

Coweta County deputies said a driver tried to run them over near a busy shopping area. One deputy shot the man through the windshield.

Channel 2's Christian Jennings learned this all started when a deputy found the driver sleeping in a car.

Surveillance video we received from a nearby business appears to show deputies chasing the vehicle down Newnan Crossing Boulevard near Highway 34 early Sunday morning.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says the chase started after a deputy woke up a man sleeping in a vehicle at the Newnan Crossing Shopping Center.

“I’ve lived in this area forever. I’d like to know exactly what happened," Rudy Salazar-Orellana, who works nearby, told us.

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A Coweta County deputy said the driver was parked behind a T-Mobile. He asked the man to get out and show his license, but the man refused.

Instead, officials say Nicholas Bolton jumped in the driver’s seat and sped off, barely missing one of the deputies.

The GBI says deputies chased Bolton, then performed a PIT maneuver that spun his vehicle around and he hit a deputy’s car.

At this point deputies got out. According to the GBI, Bolton’s vehicle was still in drive with the tires spinning. One of the deputies fired a shot through Bolton’s windshield, hitting him.

Officials say the deputy saw “what he believed to be Bolton actively trying to drive his vehicle in the direction of a deputy.”

“I’d like to see what happened on the body cams, have a better idea of what happened with the story,” Salazar-Orellana said.

Cox Media Group