SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — Sandy Springs police Sgt. R.D. Nable thought he heard a rock hit his patrol car, but he would soon discover it was something much more serious.
"I happened to be outside the car and I looked and saw something on the hood on the car. I said, ‘What is that?' and I went over and inspected it and I could see the back of the bullet underneath," Nable said.
Officer Discusses Close Call With Stray Bullet
It was a bullet that he believes came from celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve.
That night, he was doing speed detection on Interstate 285 near Riverside Drive. If the same bullet had struck a pedestrian, Nable said the outcome could have been much worse.
"It had enough energy when it was falling to go through two layers of this sheet metal," Nable said. "It was obvious from the direction of the hole of the hood in the car that it was coming straight down. Somebody just shooting up in the air, and not realizing that the bullet can come down somewhere dangerous."
Such gunfire killed 4-year-old Marquel Peters a year ago while he was sitting in his DeKalb County church with his mother ushering in the new year. It's prompted community leaders to push for a change in the law so that such an incident is no longer considered a misdemeanor in Georgia, but a felony. The moral of the story is a familiar refrain:
"Celebrate New Year's Eve, just don't celebrate with gunfire," Nable said.