A Jackson County (Ala.) man is faced with two attempted murder charges after he opened fire on, and was in turn shot by, Alabama officers he had led on a police chase. He survived the shooting, and there was no report of injuries to the two policemen. Here is a press release from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office:
On Friday night, Oct. 19, the Henagar (Ala.) Police Department received a call about a person possibly under the influence of drugs or alcohol on County Road 85. A Henagar officer located the vehicle and proceeded to follow the vehicle. He observed the driver to be all over the road. When the officer attempted to stop the vehicle with his blue lights engaged, the vehicle pulled over but as the officer approached the vehicle the suspect took off again.
The Henagar officer returned to his vehicle to pursue the vehicle again. As the vehicle turned right onto County Road 131, the vehicle veered from ditch to ditch. By this time, a DeKalb County Deputy had fallen in behind the Henagar officer. The suspect vehicle would still not stop.
The Henagar officer attempted the PIT maneuver trying to disable the vehicle. The PIT maneuver, or Pursuit Intervention Technique, is a tactic by which a pursuing car forces a fleeing car to abruptly turn sideways, causing the driver to lose control and stop. The suspect’s vehicle did not spin a full 180 degrees as the PIT maneuver is designed to bring about. Instead, the suspect car ended up sideways in the road.
As the suspect exited the vehicle, and the Henagar officer and DeKalb deputy exited their vehicles, the suspect began firing. He struck the Henagar officer’s vehicle in the driver’s door four or five times. The Henagar officer and DeKalb deputy began returning fire, striking the suspect in the arms. The suspect was taken to Erlanger Hospital for treatment.
DeKalb Sheriff Jimmy Harris said he had called the SBI (State Bureau of Investigation) to do an investigation. “We sent our deputy home with pay pending the investigation,” said the sheriff. “This is our procedure that we use on any officer shooting or internal investigation. On the scene that night Henagar Chief Randall Smith and I discussed that because they were in the county when shots were fired we would use the SBI to investigate this case.”
“Both officers did an outstanding job standing up in the line of fire and returning fire,” continued Harris. “We are fortunate that neither one of them was injured. This is a good shoot and I am positive that the SBI will come back and clear both officers.”
The suspect’s name is Jeremy Barnet and he is from Jackson County, Ala. The sheriff thanked Circuit Clerk Pam Simpson, who came out at midnight on Friday night to issue two attempted murder warrants on Barnet.
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