Varnell police officer indicted for running over newspaper carrier
2:03 pm, October 26th, 2012
The Dalton Daily Citizen reports that a former veteran police officer in the city of Varnell has been indicted for first degree vehicular homicide and reckless driving for crashing a patrol car into a Dodge Neon driven by one of the Citizen’s contract carriers while he was delivering papers in the early morning hours of March 5.
The family of newspaper carrier Leon Thurman sued the city of Varnell for $750,000 in Whitfield County Superior Court. The Citizen reported that the wrongful death lawsuit has been settled for an undisclosed amount.
The newspaper quoted Whitfield County District Attorney Bert Poston saying that former officer James Smith had turned himself in, and that the parties had agreed to a $5,000 bond. The Citizen also reported that the officer and the newspaper carrier were friends.
Contributor: Katheryn Hayes Tucker in Settlements | subscribe to rss | 
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October 27th, 2012 at 8:14 pm
There must be more to this story, as criminal charges have been filed.