An Atlanta police officer was recovering Tuesday from injuries he sustained Monday night when he was dragged by an allegedly impaired driver.
Atlanta police spokeswoman Kim Jones said Officer Kevin Thigpen and Officer C. Dupart were in the 700 block of McDaniel Street "when they observed a 2007 Hyundai Accent sitting in the roadway next to the railroad tracks with the driver slumped over the steering wheel."
Jones said that both officers approached the vehicle, and Thigpen "was able to determine that the driver, Anna Ditmer, was possibly an impaired driver."
A train approached on the nearby tracks, and when the train's horn sounded, Ditmer was awakened and "attempted to flee the scene when she observed law enforcement," Jones said.
"Officer Thigpen reached into the vehicle and attempted to apprehend the suspect, but was dragged by the vehicle, which crashed into a large pole," Jones told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an email. "Officer Thigpen sustained lacerations and large abrasions to his head, arms and legs, as well as a fractured left hand."
Thigpen was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for treatment.
Ditmer was arrested and charged with DUI drugs, serious injury by motor vehicle, reckless driving, driving while license suspended, improper stopping in roadway next to railroad tracks, giving false name to law enforcement, aggravated assault, felony obstruction and possession of methamphetamine, according to Jones.
Copyright 2014 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
