COLUMBUS, GA (WTVM) -
Muscogee County Coroner Bill Thrower has confirmed a Phenix City woman was struck and killed early Sunday morning on North Lumpkin Road in Columbus; she was pronounced dead on the scene at 1:27 a.m.
News Leader 9 was on the scene. Sources tell us that 26-year-old Jacquess Harris was crossing the street heading to a Columbus nightclub when she was hit by a Columbus police officer in a cruiser.
Chief Ricky Boren has confirmed officer Kelly MacDonnell struck and killed Harris. We’re told MacDonell joined the Columbus Police Department in June 2011.
Several witnesses on the scene say they did not see any emergency lights coming from the officer’s car and that he was traveling at a high rate of speed. Chief Boren says it’s being reported MacDonell was responding to a call as back-up. He’s been placed on administrative leave with pay.
The windshield of the officer’s car was smashed in and the victim’s shoes were laying in the street. Some of the Harris’ family, including her twin sister, were on the scene when the incident occurred.
MUST-SEE VIDEO: Distracted cop crashes into motorcyclist
[classic]
[May 29th, 2010] This is video of a crash involving an Austin police officer who hit a motorcyclist. The cop admitted he was typing some notes when he hit the man, who still has trouble walking.
An off-duty Chicago police officer shot and killed a man late Saturday night after a deadly confrontation ensued when the cop struck the man’s daughter with his motorcycle.
The officer was heading home Saturday through the town of Maywood when his bike hit 4-year old Taniyah Middleton. When the girl’s father Christopher, 26, confronted the officer over the incident, the officer shot and killed him.
Friends of the late father remembered him Sunday as a “helpful” and “happy” man.
“Chris was a great father,” Middleton’s cousin Mathis Hoskin told ABC’s Chicago affiliate WLS. “He was always helpful, never mad – always happy with a smile on his face.”
But the events that transpired Saturday night are unclear. Pat Camden, a spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police, paints a very different picture of the incident than Middleton’s friends.
The 43-year old officer, an eight-year veteran of the force, was driving back from work when the girl suddenly sprinted into the street, Camden said.
“He was on his way home and a 4-year-old ran out into traffic,” said Camden. “He had a choice of hitting her head-on or dumping his bike and taking the personal injury to avoid hitting the 4-year old – which he did. But as he dumped the bike, it slid across the road. She wound up getting nicked by the bike. He wound up with a broken ankle, a dislocated shoulder.”
“After the accident he gets up and the girl’s father became irate with him and comes over to him,” Camden continued. “The officer tells him, ‘I’m the police. Take it easy.’ The guy says, ‘I don’t give a [bleep] who you are’ and hits him in the face. Another man hits him from behind. The officer goes to the ground. They’re beating him and he’s about to lose consciousness. He pulls his weapon to defend himself at that point, fires one shot, and kills one of the individuals who happens to be the father of the 4-year-old.”
…
But they claim the officer never identified himself as a cop before firing at Middleton.
“He never let anyone know he was a police officer until after he shot him,” witness Cordell Haggard said to WLS.
Both the girl and the officer were transported to Loyola University Medical Center. The girl, Camden said, had “bruises and abrasions.” The second man who confronted Middleton, according to Camden, was taken into custody by Maywood Police.
