An 18-year-old man is dead after a Newnan police officer opened fire on him early Saturday morning following a traffic stop and foot chase that ended on Cliff Circle. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified the man as Zadarious Dorsey and said he died at a hospital after being shot several times by the officer, who first used a stun gun that failed to stop him before he pulled a handgun from his waistband.
According to the Atlanta News First report on the GBI’s account, the encounter began when a Newnan police officer spotted a white car driving near Dodson Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The officer followed the vehicle until it stopped on Cliff Circle, where five men got out. Four of the five ran from the car, while one man walked toward a nearby home, the outlet reported, citing the GBI.
The officer chased Dorsey on foot and deployed a stun gun, which the GBI says was ineffective. Dorsey then pulled a gun from his waistband, and the officer ordered him to drop it before firing several shots. Dorsey was taken to a hospital, where he died. A gun was recovered at the scene, according to the GBI.
GBI Confirms No Officers Hurt, Case Still Under Investigation
In a statement released Saturday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed that no law enforcement officers were injured during the early-morning encounter. The case remains under investigation, and the agency said Dorsey’s body will be taken to the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office, where an autopsy will be performed. The Newnan Police Department asked the GBI to investigate the shooting, a step required under department protocol whenever an officer uses deadly force.
The GBI’s Regional Investigation Office in Columbus is leading the inquiry and is asking anyone with information to come forward. Tips can be submitted by phone at (706) 565-7888 or through the See Something, Send Something mobile app, the agency said.
What Happens Next: GBI Hands Case to Local Prosecutors
Once the GBI completes its independent investigation, the agency will turn over its entire case file to the Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for legal review, per the bureau’s release. That office is led by District Attorney John “Herb” Cranford Jr., whose circuit covers Coweta, Carroll, Heard, Meriwether, and Troup counties, according to reporting tied to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Prosecutors will ultimately weigh the officer’s actions against Official Code of Georgia Annotated § 17-4-20(b), which permits police to use deadly force if they reasonably believe a suspect possesses a deadly weapon or poses an immediate threat of physical violence to officers or the public.
State law requires an independent investigation whenever a local department deploys deadly force, and the GBI conducted 83 such officer-involved shooting investigations statewide in 2025, according to the bureau’s own statistical report. Georgia law enforcement officials have told 11Alive that the GBI generally targets about 90 days to complete an officer-involved shooting file before handing it to local prosecutors, though ballistics and autopsy findings can affect that timeline.
A Department With Recent History of Shootings
The Newnan Police Department is led by Chief Brent Blankenship, a 22-year veteran of the department who was appointed chief in July 2021 after the retirement of longtime chief D.L. “Buster” Meadows, per Winters Media. Saturday’s shooting is not the department’s first in recent memory. In November 2025, a Newnan officer shot a 29-year-old suspect during a struggle over a service weapon on Bullsboro Drive, a case that also triggered a GBI investigation and led to obstruction charges, as reported by FOX 5 Atlanta. Years earlier, in April 2021, Coweta County deputies and Newnan officers were involved in a shooting near International Park after a suspect fired at a deputy’s vehicle before being wounded by police, according to WSB Radio.
Several details remain unresolved as the GBI’s investigation continues, including the identities of the other four men who fled the vehicle on Cliff Circle and whether body-camera or dash-camera footage captured the chase and shooting. The specific traffic or suspicious-vehicle concern that first prompted the officer to follow the white car has also not been detailed publicly.
