Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren is offering firearms safety and education classes. The program will include discussions on gun safety and storage, gun types, choosing the right gun for you, gun ownership and transfer laws, use of force, firearm alternatives, Georgia weapons license, active shooter situations and answering questions from class participants. Each participant will also receive one free safety gun lock. The programs is free to attend and there is no need to register. The next class will be:
6 p.m., Sept. 14 East Cobb Senior Center, 3332 Sandy Plains Road, Marietta
A pedestrian has died after being struck by a van Monday night in a Canton Road accident in Northeast Cobb.
Cobb Police said Russell L. Mathews, 31, of Marietta, was walking southbound in a northbound lane on Canton Road at 6:57 p.m. Monday when he was hit by a white 2003 Chevrolet Express van.
According to police, the accident occurred north of the Canton Road intersection with Farm Ridge Drive, located between Jamerson Road and the Cherokee County line.
A statement issued by Cobb Police Tuesday afternoon said that when officers from Precinct 1 arrived at the scene, they saw a man lying on the grass near Canton Road. The victim was taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital, where he died, according to police.
Neither the driver of the van, Scott A. Turner, 48, of Douglasville, nor a female passenger riding with him were injured, according to police, who said charges are not expected to be filed.
Anyone with information about the accident is asked to call Cobb Police at 770-499-3987
“We’re having some challenges,” Cobb Police Chief Mike Register told the East Cobb Civic Association Wednesday. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
Mike Register brought several pages of prepared remarks to Wednesday’s East Cobb Civic Association meeting as he aimed to lay out his vision as the newly named Cobb Police Chief.
After detailing his long career in the military and his return to the Cobb PD after serving as Clayton County Police Chief, real-time matters intervened to punctuate Register’s desire to make significant changes in the way officers are trained and how they deal with the public.
An hour before Register’s ECCA address at the East Cobb Library, WSB-TV reported that Lt. Greg Abbott, a 28-year Cobb PD veteran, had been placed on administrative leave after a dash-cam video revealed him making racially charged remarks to a female passenger riding in a car pulled over on a traffic stop in July 2016.
According to what was heard on the video, the white woman reached for her cell phone as Abbott approached, making a reference to police shootings. He said to her: “Remember, we only kill black people. We only kill black people, right?”
In the WSB-TV report, Abbott’s attorney said the officer’s comments were not taken in their proper context, claiming he was trying to defuse the situation.
Register, who succeeded retired chief John Houser in June, told the ECCA gathering that the officer’s comments were “hurtful,” and were “inappropriate in any context and not indicative of the values we’re trying to instill in the Cobb Police Department.”
At one point during his ECCA appearance, Register was summoned out of the room for a few minutes by County Manager Rob Hosack.
UPDATED, 4 p.m. Thursday: At a news conference on Thursday, Register and other county officials said Abbott would be terminated, adding that “it’s not the kind of decision we make lightly.”
On Tuesday, Cobb Police had to respond a WSB-TV report, based on a body-cam video, of an officer shooting at an unarmed teen eight times last November. That officer had already announced his resignation, and the Cobb District Attorney’s office recommended no charges.
Register said the video of that incident prompted him to call for changes in the Cobb PD regarding use of force and firearms training (The suspect’s lawyer is planning a lawsuit, according to the WSB-TV report).
After the second incident, Register admitted in his ECCA remarks that “we’re having some challenges.”
Cobb DOT photo of Roswell Road at South Marietta Parkway shortly before the ramp reopened early Friday morning.
UPDATED, 2:25 P.M.: The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said what turned out to be a deadly confrontation between a motorist and Cobb Police early Friday morning at a traffic accident scene in East Cobb involved the use of a Taser.
According to a GBI statement issued shortly after 2 p.m. today, the male driver of a white Dodge Caravan, which was heading westbound on Roswell Road, passed a marked Cobb Police car at an excessively high rate of speed.
Police tried to stop the Dodge Caravan, then pursued his vehicle, which then slammed into another car on the ramp to the South Marietta Parkway. The GBI said the driver of the Dodge Caravan “became combative and fought with officers” who had arrived at the accident scene. During the confrontation, one officer utilized his Taser, according to the GBI, and “the subject became unresponsive. He was transported to the hospital where he died.”
According to the GBI statement, the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Office is conducting an autopsy on the deceased man, whose identity has not been disclosed.
The GBI said several officers received minor injuries during the struggle but did not require medical attention. The driver of the other vehicle involved in the accident was hospitalized with minor injuries, according to the GBI.
The GBI continues to investigate the post-crash incident, while the Georgia State Patrol probes the accident. The GBI will turn over its findings to the Cobb District Attorney’s Office.
ORIGINAL REPORT, POSTED 1:32 P.M.: Cobb Police said one person died early Friday following a collision involving two cars on the ramp connecting Roswell Road and the South Marietta Parkway in East Cobb.
The accident happened at 12:46 a.m., according to police, and the ramp was closed until around 7:30 a.m.
According to a statement from Cobb Police, the male driver of a white Dodge Caravan traveling westbound on Roswell Road passed a Cobb Police officer in a marked patrol car at a high rate of speed.
When the driver entered the ramp to South Marietta Parkway, the Dodge Caravan hit another vehicle in the curve, police said.
When they arrived at the accident scene, officers from Cobb Precinct 4 struggled with the Dodge Caravan driver, who was arrested and later transported to a hospital, where he died, according to the Cobb Police statement.
Cobb Police have not identified the man who died.
The accident remains under investigation and is being conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia State Patrol.
Cobb DOT photo of Johnson Ferry Road looking southbound at the Woodlawn Drive intersection. Northbound lanes also are backed up.
UPDATED, 1:35 P.M.: Cobb DOT reports that all northbound and southbound lanes of Johnson Ferry Road have reopened to traffic.
ORIGINAL REPORT: At around 12:45 p.m. Friday, Cobb DOT reported that an accident in the southbound lanes of Johnson Ferry Road and Woodlawn Drive is causing major traffic delays.
The delays are being experienced in both the southbound and northbound directions on Johnson Ferry Road.
An employee at the Sunrise at East Cobb assisted living facility has been charged with murder after a 91-year-old resident there died on Friday.
Landon Terrel, of Powder Springs, has been charged with felony murder, aggravated battery of a person age 65 or older and neglect of a senior care resident. According to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records, he was arrested late Wednesday.
Cobb Police said Adam Bennett, 91, died on Friday at WellStar Kennestone Hospital where he was taken Tuesday via ambulance due to injuries suffered at the facility. Sunrise at East Cobb is located at 1551 Johnson Ferry Road, just north of Roswell Road.
A Cobb Police cruiser prevents westbound traffic onto Roswell Road from Bishop Lake Road so power crews could make repairs. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
Cobb Police shut down a short stretch of Roswell Road east of Johnson Ferry Road Tuesday afternoon due to an accident, but it caused plenty of traffic headaches.
A dump truck struck a power pole and traffic in both directions was shut down between Timber Ridge Road and Bishop Lake Drive for a couple of hours.
The shutdown took place approximately between 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., with major backups on Timber Ridge and Bishop Lake during that period, with some after-school bus and related traffic also affected.
Shortly before Roswell was re-opened, the Catholic Church of St. Ann—located at the Roswell-Bishop Lake intersection—sent out a notice on its Facebook page for parishioners to build in more time for tonight’s 7 p.m. Feast of the Assumption mass.
Power crews were still working on the side of the road once Roswell was re-opened to traffic.
The Cobb County School District this week announced the implementation of a new emergency alert system, and East Cobb’s Bells Ferry Elementary School is one of the schools serving as a testing ground for the service.
Cobb Board of Education members and the public were briefed about the new system at a work session on Wednesday. The other school that is a “proof of concept” location during the current school year is Kennesaw Mountain High School.
The new emergency system, known as AlertPoint, allows each employee within a school—including administrators, teachers and other staffers—to activate a device should an emergency occur. This includes fires, active shooters and other intruders, physical altercations and medical emergencies.
When an AlertPoint device is activated, alert information is relayed via computer and mobile devices to school-level administrators and security personnel, as well as at the school district office, within seconds.
The location and identity of the person sending the alert also is transmitted. When a “Code Red” alert is triggered, flashing lights, beeping sounds and voice messages ring out, and the intercom system indicates a lockdown situation is underway.
The AlertPoint system is patterned after existing school fire emergency procedures.
Cobb is the first school district in Georgia to use the AlertPoint system, according to Superintendent Chris Ragsdale.
“Columbine [the deadly 1999 Colorado high school shootings] changed how we do school security,” he said.
Phil Bradford, a Cobb school police officer, said the biggest security concerns remain at high schools, since elementary and middle schools have more controlled access.
“This is a capability we’ve never had before, particularly in the high schools,” he said. “If one of the staff members sees something that is that threatening, within in a matter of seconds, the entire building can know what to do.”
Ragsdale said the school district is “starting with the rollout” of AlertPoint in other schools, but for security reasons he would not identify them.
According to Cobb Police, two businesses in the Delk Spectrum Shopping Center (2900 Delk Road, at Powers Ferry Road) and another nearby on Delk Road were part of an alcohol compliance check last Thursday, July 27.
All three of them passed the check—meaning they didn’t sell alcohol to an underage volunteer.
They were the Bowlero Lanes at 2749 Delk Road, and the Publix store and the Willy’s Mexicana Grill at Delk Spectrum.
The police compliance check also included several businesses in the Atlanta Road area, and three of them failed.
The checks are conducted by the Cobb Police Department’s Regulatory Services/Permits Unit.
If you hear sirens around noon today, this is the reason. Issued by Cobb County government:
Cobb County has more than 70 outdoor warning sirens to alert residents during a weather-related emergency, including ten sirens that can also broadcast voice messages.
The intent of warning sirens is to alert people who are outside that an imminent danger is approaching; they are not designed to be heard within a home or other building.
Cobb County conducts outdoor warning siren system tests at noon on the first Wednesday of each month, sounding the sirens for 3 to 5 minutes. In the event that there is inclement weather on the first Wednesday of the month, the test will be postponed until the following day, the first Thursday of the month.
