Cobb Police are looking for a man they say punched an elderly woman in the face before stealing her purse this week at a grocery store parking lot.
Police said the woman, 84, was robbed in the parking lot of a Publix store at 2451 Cumberland Parkway on Tuesday morning, then got away in a 2005 Toyota Camry in the photo above.
The car has extensive damage on the rear-side passenger door and has dealer drive-out tags, according to police, who did not have a physical description of the male suspect.
Police said anyone with information is asked to call the Cobb Police Crimes Against Persons Unit at 770-499-3945.
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Cobb Police will be at selected Dunkin’ Donuts locations on Friday to accept donations on behalf of Special Olympics. It’s called “Cops on Donut Shops on what the marketing world has dubbed National Donut Day.
The Precinct 4 community officer, Natalie Jegg, will be on hand at the Dunkin’ Donuts at 2765 Sandy Plains Road, from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Officer Rasean Stoney of Precinct 3 will be at the Dunkin’ Donuts at 2022 Powers Ferry Road during the same hours.
The proceeds will be turned over to the Georgia Special Olympics.
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An East Cobb man charged in March with shooting two home contractors—one of them fatally—was indicted Thursday for murder and aggravated assault.
A Cobb Superior Court grand jury returned indictments of malice murder, felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of possessing a firearm while committing a felony against Larry Epstein, according to the Cobb District Attorney’s Office.
Epstein, 69, has been held without bond at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center since his March 6 arrest for the shootings. Jake Horne, 21, of Kennesaw (in photo) died from gunshot wounds sustained at the Epstein’s Wellington Lane home, according to Cobb Police.
Gordon Montcalm, 37, of Buchanan, Ga., also was shot at the home, police said, and he has been undergoing what family members have said is a long recovery.
Police said Horne and Montcalm were finishing up their workday on a contracting project at Epstein’s home, located in a quiet neighborhood off Johnson Ferry Road, when gunfire erupted.
Neighbors reported an active shooter situation to police, who urged them to go inside, as SWAT and other emergency units arrived and blocked off the street.
About a half-hour after the heavy law enforcement presence came to the scene, Epstein surrendered peacefully, according to police.
Horne died later that day after being rushed to WellStar Kennestone Hospital, after family members said he was taken off life support.
Epstein’s wife filed for divorce after separating from her husband of 48 years the day after the shootings, according to Cobb court documents.
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Cobb Police have released security camera photos of a man they said robbed a T-Mobile store on Delk Road earlier this month and they’re asking for the public’s help in identifying and finding him.
Sgt. Neil Penirelli, a Cobb Police spokesman, said a man came into the store at the Delk Road Spectrum Shopping Center (2900 Delk Road, at Powers Ferry Road) on May 18 at 10:21 a.m., armed with a gun.
Police said the man approached sales employees and demanded they take him to a safe, and ordered them to give them their phones and other accessories.
The employees then were told to remain in a backroom as the suspect left the store, police said, adding that he stepped into an awaiting car.
The car is described as a newer model black Nissan Virsa.
Penirelli said T-Mobile is offering a reward through Crime Stoppers, and anyone with information can submit it anonymously at 404-577-TIPS (8477).
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Two men convicted earlier this month of killing a man outside a Windy Hill Road restaurant and wounding his wife in 2016 were handed life sentences on Thursday.
The sentences issued by Cobb Superior Court Judge Ann Harris to Demarious Kevauh Greene, 23 (left), and Dylan Marquis Ledbetter, 25 (right).
On May 16, they were found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, and firearms-possession charges stemming from a robbery and shootings of a Kennesaw couple outside the Pappadeaux restaurant Oct. 7, 2016.
Ledbetter, who also was found guilty of aggravated assault on a police officer, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, as well as another consecutive life sentence with a minimum of 10 years to serve. Greene got life with the possibility of parole for murder and three consecutive life sentences for the other charges.
Anthony Welch and his wife Cynthia were leaving the restaurant after having their birthday dinner when they were robbed by two men, police said.
According to trial testimony, the men took a necklace from Cynthia Welch (later revealed to be costume jewelry valued at only $5) after shooting both victims with a .38-caliber weapon.
Anthony Welch died from his wounds and Cynthia Welch survived.
The suspects were stopped on Oct. 15 at a gas station on Delk Road for a traffic violation. Greene and Ledbetter, who are both from Broward County, Fla., had been connected to another robbery in Woodstock for which they have received life sentences.
Ledbetter also is facing murder charges in Broward for shooting a man in the head. That victim, as well as the Woodstock victim, testified in the trial for the Pappadeaux shootings.
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New Cobb Police Chief Tim Cox served as commander of Precinct 4 in East Cobb. (Cobb Co. photo)
Selected sworn public safety employees in Cobb County will be getting a one-time bonus, but they’ll have to wait a couple of months to get it.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted 5-0 Tuesday to approve the $1,475 bonuses, which have been promised as a “first step” by county officials to address concerns in recent months about salaries and retention.
The bonuses won’t take effect until Aug. 2, due to a 60-day pension public notification required by state law.
By a 4-1 vote, commissioners also appointed Tim Cox, currently interim chief, to be the new Cobb Police Chief. He succeeds Mike Register, who was recently named the Cobb Public Safety Director, and his appointment is effective immediately.
The bonuses will go to police officers, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies who received satisfactory or better job performance reviews in 2018.
“This is the very first step a multi-step approach” to recruiting, keeping and better-compensating sworn public safety personnel, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said.
For several months some public safety employees and their representatives and private citizens have been lobbying commissioners, saying current staffing and salary levels are at a “crisis.”
Before the vote, some of those strong critics thanked the commissioners and urged them to work for long-term goals, including a step-and-grade compensation system.
Among them was East Cobb resident Lance LoRusso, a former county police officer who now represents police with the Cobb Fraternal Order of Police.
He said the bonuses are “a gesture of faith and not a commitment. . . . They’re looking for a commitment from you.” LoRusso asked commissioners to “fix it for years to come . . . now is the time to act,” with the ultimate goal to make Cobb “the best and most sought-after county to work in.”
Boyce has proposed pay raises for public safety employees totaling seven percent for the upcoming fiscal year 2020 budget.
“We will do something that we can be proud of,” he said after the vote.
In the item after the bonuses, the commissioners confirmed Cox as the new police chief. The vote wasn’t unanimous; South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid said she wasn’t opposed to Cox but an appointment process that “didn’t provide the public [the chance] to vet what is a significant role.”
Cox, who’s a county native, has been with Cobb Police for his entire 30-year career, and had been contemplating retirement.
His assignments have including serving as Precinct 4 commander on Lower Roswell Road, noted by East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott.
“I can think of no better person,” Ott said. “He is a stabilizing force. He is the go-to person no matter the position.”
That’s what Register cited in his recommendation of Cox, saying he provides “an air of stability” for a police department facing numerous challenges, including the salary and retention issues.
Cox has been deputy chief under Register, who’s implemented a number of community policing initiatives. Cox has said he will be willing to stay on three more years.
“This is the only police department I’ve ever wanted to work for,” he said after the vote. “But this is not about me. It’s about the department.
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UPDATED, 2:47 P.M.: Police said Elijah Jones was spotted in Smyrna, and is with Cobb County Police. Marietta Police will be reuniting him with his family.
ORIGINAL POST:
Marietta Police say a 12-year-old boy went missing on Sunday, and he was last seen in the Allgood Road area, near Morningside Road.
Elijah Jones is around 4-foot-11, weighs around 95 pounds and has a scar on his chin, according to police.
He is believed to be wearing gray sweatpants, gray and white shirt and yellow Nike shoes.
Anyone with information about his whereabouts, especially since Sunday afternoon, is asked to call 911.
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Those pushing for better pay, benefits and retention for Cobb public safety workers haven’t been optimistic their issues will be addressed before the fiscal year 2020 budget takes effect in October.
Mike Boyce has proposed a 5-percent pay raise for public safety employees that some think doesn’t go far enough. (ECN file)
They’ve been lobbying Cobb commissioners for weeks to take some immediate steps, and on Tuesday the county chairman’s office announced a proposal for a one-time bonus for police, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies to be voted on next week.
The bonuses come to more than $2.7 million in all, with the money coming from the county’s general fund and fire fund budgets, according to figures provided by Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt.
The bonus, which would be a flat amount of $1,475 per person, “is the first of a multi-phase approach” to addressing public safety salary and retention matters, Chairman Mike Boyce said in a statement, adding that commissioners “will be considering other measures in the weeks ahead.”
He didn’t specify what those may be. The next commission meeting is a week from today, on May 28.
The bonus is considered a merit-based payment, and will go to employees in the police, fire and sheriff’s departments who scored satisfactory or higher job performance ratings last year.
Cavitt said the current county budget for police and fire should accommodate the bonuses, but that the sheriff’s department would need an additional $694,964.
The police and sheriff’s departments are funded through the county’s general fund. Cavitt said the raises for police personnel comes to $1,004,844.
The firefighters bonuses would come from a surplus in personnel services funds and would cost $1,048,253, Cavitt said.
Susan Hampton of East Cobb, a citizen leading the effort for better pay, has been handing out flyers (see above and below) detailing what she and other citizens and public safety staffers have been calling a crisis.
Earlier this spring Boyce said he would be asking commissioners for a three-percent merit-based pay raise for all county employees, and another two percent for public safety.
Hampton has said that’s not enough, saying that a “five-percent pay raise will not make Cobb competitive” with other jurisdictions in metro Atlanta.
She says the money is there to address staffing shortages and pay and retention problems now, due to the growth in the county tax digest.
The Cobb Fraternal Order of Police has asked for a 10-percent pay raise.
The proposed bonuses come shortly after former Cobb Police Chief Mike Register was named the county’s public safety director.
In the county release, Register issued a statement saying that “I’m optimistic there are more options being considered by the Board of Commissioners who I believe are committed to addressing the ongoing problem.”
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Cobb Police on Thursday visited nearly a dozen East Cobb businesses to see if they would serve alcohol to anyone under 21. All of them passed their compliance checks, meaning they did not sell to underage volunteers. Those businesses are:
Kroger, 2960 Shallowford Road
Wing Zone, 3052 Shallowford Road
BP Food Mart, 2951 Shallowford Road
Food Mart, 3065 Shallowford Road
Avenue Spirits and Wine, 4400 Roswell Road
Citgo Food Mart, 4360 Roswell Road
BN Food Mart, 4267 Roswell Road
Publix 4401 Shallowford Road
Yeero Village, 4751 Sandy Plains Road
Rosa’s Pizza, 3605 Sandy Plains Road
Good Times Package Store, 4771 Alabama Road.
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An East Cobb man charged with raping a woman at her home in the Johnson Ferry Road area in February has been indicted.
Kendal Guerin Chaves, 34, of Lerose Court, was indicted by a Cobb grand jury last week on one count of aggravated sodomy, one count of aggravated assault, one count of first degree burglary and one count of battery.
He was charged by Cobb Police on Feb. 10, two days after a woman living on Colony Drive, off Little Willeo Road, said a man knocked on a window in the morning and attacked her after she answered the door.
According to the indictment, Chaves gained unlawful entry into the home, committed anal rape against the victim, choked her and caused bruises to her neck, face and arms.
Chaves was booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center without bond, according to jail records.
He also was charged with DUI, a misdemeanor, at the same time. Chaves pleaded guilty in late January to a cocaine possession charge and had been sentenced to three years’ probation, according to court records.
The court records further show that his probation was revoked due to the DUI charge, and on March 26, Chaves was resentenced to serve two years.
According to Cobb jail records, Chaves was released to the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections on April 11.
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Jerry Quan is a former commander of Cobb Police Precinct 4. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy (Parker)
One of the major services cited by East Cobb Cityhood advocates is public safety, and in particular, more police officers on patrol.
At their town hall meeting Monday, Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb representatives were quick to note the ongoing public safety concerns expressed by Cobb police, fire and other law enforcement personnel, as well as citizens.
Before those issues were raised to county commissioners, a feasibility study commissioned by the Cityhood group assumed an East Cobb police force of 142 officers.
That’s nearly the double the currently allocated 77 positions for Cobb Police Precinct 4, which covers more of the proposed City of East Cobb, all the way to Canton Road.
But Precinct 4 has only 53 officers, and is among the most understaffed of the five police precincts in the county.
Among the complaints in Cobb are lower salary scales for police compared to other cities and counties in metro Atlanta, as well as benefit packages and retention rags that also are lagging.
A questioner asked the cityhood group at the town hall about how a City of East Cobb might achieve “full funding” for police officers.
“I want to see a police department that’s paid what they’re worth,” said Jerry Quan, a retired Cobb Police major who was a commander at Precinct 4, who drew strong applause with that remark.
Now a resource officer at Lassiter High School with the Cobb County School District police department, Quan is a member of the Cityhood group, advising on public safety matters.
“I’ll do what I can to help them but I can’t guarantee anything.”
The cityhood group also was asked that City of East Cobb paying police officers might have a “ripple effect” on Cobb’s situation.
Cityhood leader Karen Hallacy admitted that it would, but it would be no different than how other local police departments have been able to entice officers from Cobb.
“We’re part of that ripple,” she said.
A City of East Cobb police force likely would be headquartered at the current Precinct 4 location at the East Cobb Government Service Center on Lower Roswell Road.
Public safety would be the largest single expense for a City of East Cobb, according to a $45 million budget assumption included in the feasibility study.
Most of that $19.67 million line item would be for police. After the meeting Quan told East Cobb News that he thought that budgeting for 142 officers “is a little bit high,” and said “we don’t want to have the bare minimum” in terms of services and resources as well as manpower.
The biggest objective, he said, would be to have “more officers out on the streets.”
Quan said he sympathizes with his former Cobb Police colleagues who are pressing for better compensation and resources. Saying that he “loves Cobb County,” Quan insists that in East Cobb, “with the right kind of resources, we can provide better services.
“We like where we live, and we want to keep it that way.”
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As the Cobb Board of Commissioners approved the hiring of a new public safety director Tuesday night, many of those working for county public safety agencies and members of the public told them that a proposed five-percent pay increase isn’t sufficient.
That’s how much more Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce wants to pay them in his draft fiscal year 2020 budget proposal. The boost includes a three-percent hike for all county employees, plus another two percent for public safety personnel.
For several weeks those working for police, fire, sheriff’s office and 911/emergency agencies have told commissioners morale is deteriorating because of poor salary and benefits packages and retention rates, compared to other jurisdictions in metro Atlanta.
Among those speaking out was Susan Hampton (in photo), an East Cobb citizen who helps organize an annual public safety appreciation dinner for police officers in Precinct 4 and another for Cobb firefighters.
“I am begging you to fix it now,” she said as the last of a long line of public speakers demanding immediate action, and not later in the summer, during the budget process.
“Fix it now” was a message some brought to the meeting as they held up signs and wildly applauded what Hampton and others were saying.
Commissioners named Cobb Police Chief Mike Register the new public safety director, and he pledged to those in the audience to “make public safety a better place to work.”
The vote to approve Register was 4-1, with Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb opposed, saying he’d prefer the $300,000 or so budgeted for public safety director (half salary, the rest support staff) go to addressing staffing shortages.
Ott said he wasn’t opposed to Register, whom many praised during the evening, getting the job.
Hampton, who’s been especially vocal about what she has called a public safety “crisis” in Cobb, said starting police officers in Cobb are paid around $40,000 a year, compared to $48,800 in Atlanta and Brookhaven.
After five years of service, that Cobb officer would get $44,000. A five-percent raise would result in a salary level of $46,000, she said. In Gwinnett, officers at the five-year level are paid around $53,000, while in Atlanta and Brookhaven it’s around $59,000.
“A five-percent increase will not make Cobb County competitive,” she said.
To fund the extra two percent raise, Boyce has proposed not funding an allotted 40 new police officer positions and another 40 new sheriff’s office positions.
In other words, Hampton concluded, “public safety has to fund their own increase.”
She suggested that the county use revenues from projected growth in the county tax digest this year to help pay for additional public safety spending.
Others urged the commissioners to address retirement and retention issues they say are getting worse.
Steven Gaynor of the Cobb Fraternal Order of Police said the savings from not funding a public safety director, as Ott prefers, “wouldn’t have helped us much.”
Gaynor requested a 10-percent raise and prefers a step and grade retirement system that Ott has suggested.
The most pressing issue, Gaynor said, is filling job openings that are continuing, as the county is conducting a hiring spree for public safety.
“We had eight [police academy] graduates last Thursday,” he said, “but we lost 13. We cannot keep this up. . . .
“Set in place a plan that will take us into the future.”
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Register, who has been police chief since May 2017, was recommended from a group of four individuals to succeed Sam Heaton, a former Cobb fire chief who retired last month.
Register, a retired military veteran who served with Cobb PD for 19 years and later was the the Clayton County Police Chief, is a doctoral candidate in public policy.
Among his initiatives since returning to Cobb include beefing up community-based policing, with a community officer in each of the five police precincts, and holding occasional meetings with faith and other community leaders in the county.
The change at the top of the department comes as commissioners have been pressed by public safety personnel and citizens to improve salary, benefits, retention and other initiatives to address staffing shortages some have said has reached crisis proportions.
Understaffed police and fire services also are among of the primary factors behind the ongoing East Cobb cityhood movement, and are two of the proposed three services included in a bill that will be taken up next year in the Georgia legislature.
At recent commissioners’ meetings, those pushing for more staffing have noted that all five Cobb police precincts have shortages on their patrol “beats.” East Cobb’s Precinct 4 has only eight of 10 beats fully staffed, the least-staffed of all, according to Cobb Fraternal Order of Police head Steven Gaynor.
Cobb Police Chief Mike Register speaking to the East Cobb Civic Association in Aug. 2017 (ECN file).
Cobb currently has 82 police officer openings, and is on pace to lose 100 officers this year. That’s how many applications come in every week, but only a quarter or so of them make the first cut.
Other shortages are in fire/EMS and sheriff’s deputies positions.
The public safety director oversees those functions, along with the county’s 911 dispatch service, emergency management agency and animal services.
In a draft fiscal year 2020 budget proposalreleased last week, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce has included recruitment bonuses for public safety, but has decided against budgeting for 40 new police officer and 40 new sheriff’s deputy positions.
Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb told those gathered at a town hall meeting last month that he’s opposed to filling the public safety director’s post, and prefers each of those agency heads to report to the county manager, as has been done in the past.
Ott was the only commissioner voting against Register for police chief, saying he objected to the selection process and not the candidate.
Proponents of more public safety staffing and better salaries are planning to speak out again at Tuesday’s meeting. It starts at 7 p.m. in the second floor boardroom of the Cobb office building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
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Thanks to reader who lives in Chadds Walk for asking us to check out what she said was a “bad accident” shortly after midnight Monday on Oak Lane, and that prompted fire/rescue as well as police presence.
A Cobb Police spokesman told us that the accident involved a single vehicle that struck a tree at 12:03 a.m. on Oak Lane near Wyeth Walk (that’s east of Johnson Ferry Road).
Officer Neil Penirelli said a white 2009 Mazda RX8 driven by Evan Jones, 27, of Marietta, was negotiating a curve on Oak Lane when the car left the road and hit the tree.
Penirelli said Jones was taken to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital and is listed in critical but stable condition, and that speed and alcohol are possible contributing factors in the accident.
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Cobb DOT and the Cobb County School District said Tuesday they’ve drawn up a number of safety improvements that will be made on Holt Road in front of Wheeler High School following serious injuries to two students who were hit by a car.
The accident took place around 7 p.m. on a Saturday, March 9, as they were moving gym equipment in the crosswalk.
One student, Malik Spellman, is facing a long recovery after suffering multiple injuries. The other student has not been identified. The 73-year-old driver of the car who hit them has been issued traffic citations but was not charged with anything else.
According to Cobb County spokesman Ross Cavitt, here’s what’s going to happen on Holt Road, in front of Wheeler and the parking lot of the former East Cobb Middle School:
Installing a “rectangular rapid flashing beacon” device at the crosswalk, which would include a raised median providing a pedestrian refuge in the middle of the road. This is similar to a pedestrian crossing currently in place on Lower Roswell Road just outside of the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.
Relocating the crosswalk away from a nearby side street and combine it with another crosswalk north of the current location.
Close an exit from a parking lot across from the high school near the crosswalk.
Install updated signage warning of the pedestrian crossing.
Upgrade street lighting in the vicinity of the relocated crosswalk.
Cavitt said the county government and school district will share in the costs, which haven’t been determined.
He said Cobb DOT was planning to conduct a pedestrian survey on Holt Road before the accident, with cameras and other devices recently installed.
Cobb DOT had planned a pedestrian survey on Holt Road before the incident happened. They installed cameras and other devices and are still studying the results.
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In response to concerns about staffing, salary and retention issues for Cobb public safety personnel, Commissioner Bob Ott said last week he has a few plans to save money. One of them calls for not having a public safety director.
At his town hall meeting at the Catholic Church of St. Ann, Ott drew applause from constituents when he said that “I won’t be voting for the position of a new public safety director.”
Sam Heaton retired as the Cobb Public Safety Director last week, and a replacement hasn’t yet been nominated to succeed him.
But Ott said he thinks the county should go back to having each of the public safety department heads—police, fire/EMS, 911, emergency management and animal services—report to the Cobb County Manager, as has been done in the past.
Heaton is a former Cobb fire chief who was named public safety director in 2014, and was making $156,000 at the end of a 33-year career with the county.
He replaced Jack Forsythe, who resigned in protest, citing a lack of resources and staffing shortages that have come up again as commissioners prepare for the fiscal year 2020 budget.
At their last meeting in March, commissioners were pressed by current and past public safety employees and citizens to address what they called a “crisis.”
Among the pleas were to be more proactive in filling 82 open police officer positions, out of a total county sworn-officer force of 700.
Ott said the county receives around 100 applications a week for police officers, but a typical batch that size is whittled down to around 25 who meet Cobb’s qualifications.
The cost of filling all 82 positions is estimated at around $10 million. All five Cobb Police precincts have open slots in what are called patrol “beats,” including Precinct 4 in East Cobb. Cobb Fraternal Order of Police head Steven Gaynor said Precinct 4 is the least-staffed of all, with eight officers for 10 beats.
(Public safety staffing also has been cited by those pressing for East Cobb cityhood, with police and fire proposed as municipal services.)
Ott’s priority would be to fill the open beat positions. “How many of these 82 slots are needed to have all the beats [in the county] being covered?” he said.
Police officers have said having take-home cars is important for them. In the 2016 Cobb SPLOST, Ott said there was a $9 million line item sum for new police cars, and that last year he offered another $9 million, but his request was taken out of that wish list.
The biggest difference Ott said he has had with how public safety spending has been used is over compensation, benefits, raises and retention incentives.
(He’s expressed his concerns over these matters before, especially after last year’s budget adoption.)
Although he has voted for salary increases for police officers and sheriff’s deputies as part of recommendations from a consultant’s “pay and class” study in 2017, Ott said the practice is not sustainable.
He regrets the “pay and class” vote and prefers implementing a “step and grade” process for public safety employee raises that’s similar to what’s done at the Cobb County School District.
He said he and fellow East Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell have been discussing such an option.
Ott also would like to move all county government employees to a defined-contribution retirement system “because defined benefits don’t work.”
Ott and Birrell voted against the fiscal year 2019 Cobb budget that included a property tax hike, and Ott insisted last week the resources to address public safety shortages existed before that.
“There’s money all around, which is why I didn’t vote for the budget and millage rate increase,” he said.
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I-75 Southbound near Terrell Mill Road after the lanes were reopened around 11:30 a.m. Friday (Ga. DOT camera)
UPDATED, 5:45 P.M.:
Marietta Police say the man they took into custody on the interstate is suspected of an armed robbery at the customer service desk of the Walmart store at 201 Cobb Parkway South, near the Big Chicken.
Police said the suspect fled the scene before they arrived, but they were able to get a description from a video surveillance camera at the store and learned he left in a gray Honda Civic.
A Marietta officer discovered a vehicle fitting the description and initiated a traffic stop on I-75, and the driver ultimately pulled over on the shoulder near Windy Hill Road, police said.
Police said that because they thought the suspect was armed, they didn’t approach the vehicle, and began negotiations with him by phone.
That’s why they decided to shut down the southbound lanes, and a standoff took place lasting more than an hour.
More from MPD:
After negotiating attempts failed, members from the Marietta SWAT Team approached the vehicle and the driver was removed and taken into custody without injury/incident.
The male, who is not being identified at this time, is currently at a local hospital receiving a full medical evaluation.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
If you’ve been stuck in a miles-long logjam on Interstate 75 southbound in Cobb County this morning, you’re free to move about.
But it may take the rest of the afternoon to clear up traffic that was tied up for more than an hour due to police activity.
All southbound lanes were shut down at I-285 for more than an hour due to what Marietta Police initially described as “a traffic stop with an armed non compliant driver.”
The motorist is believed to be a suspect in an armed robbery at a Walmart store on Cobb County in Marietta.
The driver pulled over on the shoulder on I-75 and a standoff with police ensued, and the suspect was taken into custody. Some southbound traffic was diverted onto Windy Hill Road.
Possible detours around the congestion include the managed lanes and Atlanta Road, but Cobb Parkway also figures to feel the brunt of the traffic clear-up.
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As the organizer of annual dinners to honor Cobb public safety personnel, Susan Hampton is now taking an active role to appreciate them far beyond giving them one special evening out of the year.
Susan Hampton speaking at a town hall meeting at the Sewell Mill Library on March 4. (ECN file)
Over the last month or so, the East Cobb resident has shown up at all but one of Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce’s 14 budget town hall meetings to speak about what she and others have said is a “crisis” in staffing, pay, benefits and retention for county police, firefighters, EMS personnel and sheriff’s deputies.
She worked up a flyer to hand out to citizens at the town hall meetings, fraught with warnings about how Cobb is struggling to fill many openings, and is losing experienced personnel to other jurisdictions.
On Tuesday, she and more than a dozen citizens and Cobb public safety employees demanded that the Cobb Board of Commissioners act quickly not just to improve pay and benefits, but to get more aggressive in filling those vacancies, especially in a competitive market for experienced public safety workers in metro Atlanta.
“Each of you says public safety is number one and you are committed to solving the problem,” she told commissioners at their packed meeting in downtown Marietta.
“Then you say you’re only one vote . . . The problem is 10 years old, and it’s getting worse.”
She noted that already in 2019, 25 police officers have resigned or will be leaving soon, and “at this rate, we will lose over 100 officers this year. . . . There is a public safety crisis in Cobb County.”
Hampton, a vice president at the Fidelity Bank branch on Johnson Ferry Road, is co-chair of the East Cobb Business Association’s annual dinner for officers in East Cobb’s Precinct 4, as well as for the entire Cobb Fire and Emergency Services Department.
Hampton’s flyer spelling out public safety staffing, salary and retention concerns. Click here for larger view.
Most of her community activism is with ECBA, as well as the East Cobb Lions Club, and other organizations. She’s also a former East Cobb Citizen of the Year for her long-time civic leadership.
“I’m just a concerned citizen that loves Cobb County,” she said.
On Tuesday, she urged commissioners to use some of the $10 million she estimated in pay and benefits that’s available from 211 current openings “immediately” for pay increases, retirement and retention bonuses, and other initiatives to address staffing issues.
She also advocated the creation of a special taxing district for police that’s similar to how Cobb Fire is funded.
“If the city of Atlanta” can address some its public safety staffing concerns, Hampton said, to a rousing chorus of laughter in the room from many of those in uniform, “then why can’t Cobb County?”
Af the end of the meeting, Commissioner Bob Ott of District 2 in East Cobb acknowledged Hampton, telling the public safety employees on hand that “she has been out there advocating for you.”
In recent weeks, those concerned about public safety staffing have spoken out to the commissioners, but Tuesday’s turnout was the strongest yet, as a formal budget proposal for fiscal year 2020 is pending.
Some expressed frustration that the while the budget reflected public cries to enhance library hours and expand greenspace, public safety issues have been overshadowed.
Steven Gaynor, head of the Cobb chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, said every area of the police department is understaffed, but Precinct 4 in East Cobb “is the least-staffed,” with eight officers for 10 beats.
He said Cobb Police can’t wait for the upcoming fiscal year 2020 budget process to address the shortages, and called for “emergency action now.”
Matt Babcock, who lives in District 3 in Northeast Cobb, had been a Cobb firefighter for 10 years until he resigned last month, because he needs “a better paycheck and retirement.” He said “chronic short staffing,” including 80 current open positions, “is a danger to the county.”
He said many engines are staffed with three and not the recommended four firefighters. Many of his former colleagues, Babcock said, “are not sticking around because they don’t see there’s a future in Cobb.”
Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce’s fiscal year 2019 budget calls for the hiring of additional police officers, but more are leaving than can be replaced. (ECN file)
East Cobb attorney Lance LoRusso, who represents many law enforcement officers, told commissioners that in spite of numerous calls in recent years to address public safety staffing issues, “your responses have been weak and demonstrate a lack of leadership.”
Ott and other commissioners addressed the dozen or so speakers and said they’re working to address the staffing concerns but don’t have a specific solution for the moment.
“We hear you, we hear your concerns,” said commissioner JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in Northeast Cobb. “We have made improvements over the years, but it’s not enough. We’re working on options to come forward in the near future.”
Boyce took exception to LoRusso’s comments, and said voting to improve parks and library services doesn’t mean commissioners don’t care about public safety.
“To say that this board doesn’t care is offensive,” Boyce said. “We do care. . . You are a voice. You are here tonight because deep down you know we are going to fix the problem.”
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A Wheeler High School student who was critically injured when he was hit by a car in the crosswalk in front of the school on March 9 is still in the hospital, and will be in rehabilitation after that.
His family is asking for the public’s help to help pay for medical and other expenses as his parents take time off from work to care for him.
Malik Spellman, a varsity basketball player for the Wildcats, was one of two Wheeler students hit around 7 p.m. on March 9 as they were transporting weight room equipment across Holt Road.
The boys were struck by a black Mercedes driven by Nancy Valentine, 73, of Marietta, according to Cobb Police, who have not yet pressed any charges.
UPDATED, March 21, 3 P.M.:
Cobb Police spokesman Neil Penirelli said traffic citations have been issued to Valentine for failure to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk and failure to use due regard to avoid pedestrians.
ORIGINAL REPORT CONTINUES:
According to an online fundraising note posted by Marquis Wright, Spellman’s stepfather, more than $7,500 of a requested $25,000 has been raised thus far. Spellman is still at Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital, Wright said, and he will need physical as well as psychological therapy.
Police said initially that the student later identified as Spellman was facing life-threatening injuries and that the other boy, who has not been identified, was facing serious injuries. They were both taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital from the accident scene, police said.
Wright said he was making the fundraising appeal after being “instructed by our lawyer just in case the person who hit my son’s insurance doesn’t cover his medical expenses.”
East Cobb Middle School officials said they’ve heard that “some of our families are interested in how they can help” Spellman’s family, and on a social media posting included the GoFundMe link.
“He is progressing well, but still expected to be in a rehab facility for the next 3-4 weeks,” the school message said, referring to Spellman.
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Reader Julia has these photos of Paper Mill Road being blocked off after 6 p.m. Tuesday due to brush fires near the Sibley Forest subdivision.
That’s located between Sope Creek Elementary School and the Cochran Shoals Unit of the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area.
James Kapish, public information officer for Cobb Fire, said Engine 3 was dispatched to the scene at 6:18 p.m.
He said the fire was controlled quickly and there were no injuries or evacuations and that roads were reopened to traffic at 7:17 p.m.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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The bonus is considered a merit-based payment, and will go to employees in the police, fire and sheriff’s departments who scored satisfactory or higher job performance ratings last year.
