North Fulton County

Traffic stop leads to officer being dragged by car down I-285, police say

By Richard Elliot, WSB-TV
By Richard Elliot, WSB-TV

NORTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A Decatur man is in custody after police say he dragged a Dunwoody police officer onto Interstate 285 and sideswiped other cars to knock him off.

It all started as a traffic stop, but it didn’t take long to become anything but routine.

Truck driver Wendell Fuller told Channel 2's Richard Elliot about what happened seconds after that officer got dragged onto the interstate then knocked off into traffic.

“When I pulled out, a Dunwoody police officer come flying up beside me,” Fuller said.

Investigators said the officer pulled over a driver for texting and driving along Ashford Dunwoody Road.

Police told Elliot that the officer went to talk to the driver, but the driver took off and ended up dragging the officer as the driver sped away down the on-ramp to I-285 westbound.

What they say happened next is almost unbelievable.

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“He goes down the ramp onto 285, swerving in and out of cars, just trying to sideswipe other vehicles to get our officer off the car. Gets off at 285, he sideswipes another vehicle, which caused our officer to fall off the vehicle and roll down 285,” said Sgt. Robert Parsons, with the Dunwoody Police Department.

Somehow, the other cars missed the officer. Several drivers stopped to try and help.

Parsons told Elliot he was one of the first officers on the scene.

“At that point, we made the decision, being so close to a hospital, we were going to pick him up and not wait on an ambulance. We put him in one of our cars and rushed him to the hospital,” Parsons aid.

Police tracked down that driver near Roswell Road and arrested him after a short foot chase.

“It’s a blessing that he wasn’t more seriously injured. He could have easily been killed by being smushed in between the cars, being run over by another car on 285,” Parson said.

Police are not identifying the Dunwoody officer yet. He is undergoing tests but is expected to survive.

Investigators have not released the name of the accused driver.

Cox Media Group

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