An early-morning Delk Road traffic stop Thursday became a rather eventful incident for Marietta Police Officer Bobby Wallace.
According to police, Wallace pulled over a white Fusion with three male occupants around 7:30 a.m. at the intersection of Delk and Franklin Gateway. When he approached the vehicle and asked the driver to step out, he smelled marijuana.
Wallace also sensed “odd” body language from the driver as he summoned backup help, according to police. When the additional officer arrived, the driver jumped back inside the car, and the officers tried to remove him, police said.
At that point, police said, Wallace ended up in the Fusion with the three suspects, who had trapped him inside and fled the scene, leading law enforcement on a high-speed chase. The other officer, Sgt. Brian Honea, had been knocked down in the chaos.
After weaving through rush-hour traffic, the Fusion ended up in the mud about a mile away from the stop, racing as fast as 71 mph at one point, according to Marietta Police, who said the suspects “wrestled” with the officer during the chase.
According to police, Wallace was able to close a car door during the ordeal to avoid falling out.
One of suspects got out of the car before the chase ended and was arrested on foot with the help of a K-9 team, according to police.
Marietta Police said they got help from Cobb Police and the Georgia State Patrol in apprehending the suspects, who are all from Massachusetts. They are identified as Cory Moody, the driver, and passengers Eyzaiya Moody and Walter Gadson Jr.
Formal charges against them are pending, but in addition to the initial traffic charges they are expected to include assault, obstruction, fleeing and eluding, kidnaping, and a felon in possession of a firearm. They were being booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center late Thursday afternoon, according to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office.
Police said the officers were not injured, and that handguns thrown out of the car during the chase also were recovered.
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