An Atlanta man is fighting for his life after his family says he was run over by a police officer late Sunday night.
“He was screaming,” the victim’s girlfriend, Angelica White, told news station WSB-TV. “He couldn’t breathe.”
White said she and the victim, Demarco Person, were involved in an incident with another car and pursued that car until they hit a utility pole. However, East Point Police say the pair fled the scene following the accident, prompting officers to pursue Person’s vehicle.
An officer stopped the couple’s vehicle and asked Person to get out. Authorities said that’s when another officer pulled up and accidentally hit the man with his cruiser.
The gruesome incident happened right in front of Person’s 10-year-old daughter, who was also a passenger in the car, according to WSB-TV. The victim’s mother, Bridgette McDonald said her son suffered a fractured pelvis, internal bleeding and several broken bones. He’ll also need facial reconstruction surgery.
“It’s hard for me right now. I’m trying to be strong,” McDonald said. “It’s hard to go in the hospital and see my son laying there and I still can’t talk to him.”
Officers told WSB-TV the incident was an accident but failed to say whether the officer involved would be investigated. McDonald said no one from East Point PD has told her exactly what happened that night.
The department didn’t respond to requests for comment.
