In the early morning hours of a Tuesday in Adairsville, Georgia, a traffic stop escalated into a fatal encounter for 29-year-old Charles Leon Johnson II. On July 22, 2014, an Adairsville police officer pulled over a vehicle on Highway 140 at the northbound entrance to Interstate 75. The stop was initiated after the officer identified the driver as Johnson, who had an outstanding warrant for simple battery from Richmond County.
During the attempt to take him into custody, Johnson
reportedly tried to flee the scene in his vehicle. In the process, the officer was dragged alongside the car. Fearing for his life, the officer drew his weapon and fired a single shot, which struck and killed Johnson. The incident was captured on the officer's dashboard camera, though the footage was not immediately released to the public.
The officer, whose name was not disclosed in initial reports, was reported to have been run over by Johnson's vehicle during the altercation but sustained only minor injuries. He was subsequently treated at a local hospital and released. As is standard procedure in officer-involved shootings, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was called in to conduct an independent investigation into the incident. The officer was placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the GBI's inquiry. Online sources available do not contain information on the ethnicity of Charles Leon Johnson II, the name of the officer involved, or the findings of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's investigation and whether any charges were filed against the officer.
