Clayton County Police say a man is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries after an officer shot him in a bizarre incident off Old Dixie Road Friday.
Around 9:47 a.m., officers responded to a vehicle accident with injuries in the 4200 block of Old Dixie Highway. That’s the old Mountain View area under construction near Hartsfield-Jackson’s international terminal and the Norfolk Southern railroad track.
When they got there, police say, a witness told them a man who had been involved in the accident “exited the vehicle, took off his clothes, and ran into the woods.”
Officers found the naked man at a nearby construction site near Old Dixie Road and C.W. Grant Parkway, using a ratchet strap to try and break into a vehicle. When they told the man to drop it, he allegedly “began to twirl the ratchet strap in his hand in an attempt to use it as a weapon” and ignored their commands.
Officers then Tasered the man twice, which didn’t stop him.
When the man allegedly swung the ratchet strap at an officer, the officer shot him in the leg.
In a separate press release the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the man, Parker Ellington Dillworth, 19, allegedly “stole a City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management work truck in Fulton County” earlier Friday morning. When CCPD officers spotted the truck around 11 a.m., they “attempted to detain the driver…[but] Dilworth drove through barricades at a bridge construction site near the intersection of Charles W. Grant Parkway and College Street, Atlanta, Clayton County, GA. He ultimately crashed and ran to another area within the construction site where he attempted to break into a parked, locked pickup truck. Dilworth was confronted by pursuing officers and attempted to strike the officers by swinging a heavy, nylon tie-down strap with a metal buckle. Officers used a taser attempting to subdue Dilworth, however, the taser was ineffective. Dilworth then lunged at an officer while swinging the buckle and was shot by an officer. Dilworth was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital.”
The GBI is looking into the incident, which was Georgia’s 82nd officer-involved shooting this year.
