Crime & Safety

Man Airlifted With Severe Injuries; Massive Business Fire in Midtown

Take a look at headlines from around Marietta and metro Atlanta on Wednesday, Aug. 15.

Man Airlifted With Severe Injuries, Fiancé Blames Hit-and-Run Driver 

Jacob Elisha Downer, 29 of Marietta, was airlifted to Grady for treatment Friday at approximately 10:20 p.m. but doesn't remember a thing that happened, according to Gordy Wright, spokesman for the Georgia State Highway Patrol.

Downer was found in the roadway on Meadowview Rd. in Lithia Springs.  There was no visible evidence on his clothing, no witnesses, no one who heard anything, no roadway evidence and no vehicle evidence at the scene, Wright said in an email.

The father of three sustained broken bones, has a severed thigh muscle, and may need bone skin grafts from road rash, according to a report by myfoxatlanta.com. The man's fiancé, Lindsay Davenport, said that it will be at least two months before he'll be able to stand on that leg, according to doctors.

Find out what's happening in Mariettawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Read more on Douglasville Patch.

Massive Business Fire in Midtown

More than 60 firefighters worked to extinguish a two-alarm structure fire at Doors Unlimited, Inc., in the Loring Heights neighborhood during rush hour Monday afternoon.

Find out what's happening in Mariettawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Located at 432 Trabert Avenue near 17th Street and Atlantic Station, Doors Unlimited caught fire shortly before 5 p.m. with the initial Atlanta Fire Rescue Department personnel responding within five minutes.

Read more on Midtown Patch. 

Fired Canton Cop Requests Hearing

In a letter formally appealing his termination as the city's assistant police chief, Todd Vande Zande asked that the  assign a hearing officer "who does not report to the City Manager" to oversee the appellate process.

City clerk Susan Stanton released the letter this morning, one day after the council went into executive session to discuss "possible litigation" against the city. The council did not return from that closed session to make any formal statements to the public.

Previously, the city's attorney has denied that City Manager Scott Wood had any involvement in Vande Zande's termination.

Read more on Canton-Sixes Patch. 

East Point Mayor Sued by Resident and Has Possible Ethics Violation

The East Point Mayor Earnestine Pittman is battling both a law suit from two residents wanting her out of office, but also an ethics hearing on Monday that said she violated the oath of office. 

According to an AJC report, "Collins and fellow East Point resident Dustin Drabot filed a lawsuit Friday, Aug. 10, to have Pittman removed from office. Collins said Pittman has violated her oath of office, failed to follow city ordinances and has violated the city charter and the state code."

Read more on Cascade Patch. 


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