A Covington police officer was hospitalized Friday afternoon after a suspect dragged him with her car during a traffic stop that began as a shoplifting call at a local Walmart, then escalated into a manhunt spanning three law enforcement agencies before an arrest that night. The officer hung onto the driver's side door as the vehicle sped away near a Taco Bell on Georgia Highway 142, was thrown from the car, and suffered injuries that sent him to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.
According to The Covington News, video of the incident sent to the outlet via Facebook shows the officer speaking with the driver of a car that had been pulled over by several Covington police units. As the officer reached into the vehicle, the driver sped off, turning onto Highway 142 with the officer still clinging to the door before he was thrown off. Police immediately began searching for the suspect and the vehicle involved.
The chain of events started around 4:30 p.m. Friday when officers responded to a shoplifting call at a Walmart, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. A Covington detective then spotted the suspect vehicle across the street pulling into a QuikTrip gas station on Highway 142 near Interstate 20, setting up the traffic stop that turned violent. Emergency medical personnel later transported the injured officer to Grady Memorial Hospital, where officials reported he was in stable condition with bruises and scratches while medical staff conducted further tests.
Multi-Agency Manhunt Closes In
The search for the fleeing driver quickly grew beyond Covington's borders. The Newton County Sheriff's Office and Georgia State Patrol joined the effort, and the station's report notes investigators located the suspect's Kia Optima on South Broad Street in nearby Porterdale with two occupants inside — though the suspect was not among them at that time. That cross-jurisdictional tracking was aided by a shared Spillman Flex CAD dispatch system used by Covington police, the Newton County Sheriff's Office, and Porterdale police, all hosted at the Covington-Newton County 911 Communications Center, per a Motorola Solutions case study on the region's emergency communications infrastructure.
By around 8:30 p.m., officers arrested 24-year-old Destinee Riggins at a Covington apartment complex, per the same account from FOX 5 Atlanta. She was charged with shoplifting, fleeing or attempting to elude, and aggravated assault on a police officer. It remains unclear what legal status, if any, applies to the two people found inside the Kia Optima in Porterdale, an open question in the case so far.
What Riggins Could Be Facing
The aggravated assault charge alone carries serious weight under Georgia law. Georgia Code § 16-5-21, as published by Justia Law, sets a general penalty range of one to 20 years in prison for aggravated assault, but committing the offense against a peace officer performing official duties triggers a mandatory minimum of five years, up to 20 years. Separately, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer can escalate from a misdemeanor to a felony punishable by one to 10 years in prison and fines up to $10,000 when the driver flees at high speeds, causes an accident or injury, or commits dangerous traffic infractions, according to a legal analysis published by Georgia DUI Lawyer.
The department overseeing the response is led by Chief Brent Fuesting, who was officially named Covington's Chief of Police in October 2025 after serving as interim chief following the retirement of 40-year law enforcement veteran Philip Bradford, according to WSB-TV.
A Familiar Danger for Local Officers
This is not the first time in recent memory that a Newton-area traffic stop has turned into an officer being dragged. Hoodline previously reported that a Conyers officer was dragged roughly 40 feet by a suspect's vehicle during a traffic stop for a broken taillight in January, leading to aggravated assault charges against a Covington resident. Nationally, traffic stops remain among the most hazardous routine duties for law enforcement, contributing to thousands of assaults and vehicle-related injuries annually, according to FBI Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted data released in 2016.
Key details in this case remain unresolved, including the full extent of the officer's recovery at Grady Memorial Hospital and whether Riggins has had an initial court appearance or bond proceeding. Hoodline will continue to follow developments as Newton County officials release further information.
