A man is dead following a confrontation with Cobb County police officers after a hit-and-run incident, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) has stepped in to review the case. Timothy Lyle Sheats, age 47, of Dallas, Georgia was pronounced dead at a hospital after an officer used a stun gun on him during the Tuesday evening encounter.
According to both FOX 5 Atlanta and Atlanta News First, the incident occurred around 6:10 p.m. after officers responded to reports of a hit-and-run crash at Powder Springs and Hurt roads, where additional 911 calls indicated a person acting erratically and running into traffic. When officers arrived, they found Sheats walking down the road.
As reported by Atlanta News First, Sheats asserted that he had been shot, but with no visible injuries, the officer asked him to get into the patrol car for his safety. Sheats declined and continued trying to walk into traffic and even attempted to enter a passing vehicle. The GBI indicated that the officer then used a taser on Sheats in order to prevent him from getting hit by oncoming cars.
Following the deployment of the taser, Sheats became unresponsive. Emergency medical responders quickly attended to him and transported him to a nearby hospital, where he was later declared deceased. Details about his cause of death, or whether Sheats was, in fact shot prior to the police interaction are still unclear. The names of the officers involved in the incident have not been released, and there is no information at this time about their duty status.
The GBI's ongoing use-of-force investigation will examine the actions taken by police during the event and its findings will eventually be forwarded to the Cobb County District Attorney’s office to determine the next steps.
