CENIPLUG: On-duty Georgia cop strikes, kills two pedestrians with cruiser

Saturday, May 17, 2014

On-duty Georgia cop strikes, kills two pedestrians with cruiser

Officer Terry Belvin, 44, hit Quentin Byrd, 21, and Justin Sullivan, 25, as the two crossed Highway 7 in Barnesville, Ga. early Friday. It was Sullivan's birthday, and the two best friends had just run to a convenience store before heading home on foot.

A Barnesville Police Department cruiser hit and killed two young men as they crossed Highway 7 in Barneswille, Georgia. Sandra McDougal lost her son, 21-year old Quentin Byrd (pictured). Byrd's friend, Justin Sullivan, was also killed.

WSB-TV Atlanta A Barnesville Police Department cruiser hit and killed two young men as they crossed Highway 7 in Barneswille, Georgia. Sandra McDougal lost her son, 21-year old Quentin Byrd (pictured). Byrd's friend, Justin Sullivan, was also killed.

An on-duty Georgia cop plowed his cruiser into two men crossing a dangerous Barnesville intersection, killing them both in the early morning crash Friday.
Justin Sullivan had just turned 25 years old when he and best friend Quentin Byrd, 21, were struck on Highway 7 near Grove Street around 1 a.m. in the town some 60 miles south of Atlanta.
The buddies had just picked up some snacks at a convenience store when they were killed, according to WSB-TV.
“He was just all around a sweet, loving young man,” Byrd’s emotional mother, Sandra McDougal, told the TV station. “There’s nothing that you can say bad about him.”

Officer Terry Belvin, 44, had just stopped searching for a dangerous driver and cut off his overhead lights and sirens just before the fatal crash.
"Before he could respond, they were in front of him and pretty much attempted to swerve around them, but unfortunately they kept going in the same direction,” Barnesville Police Maj. Craig Cooper told WSB.
"He's doing fine physically,” Cooper said of Belvin, who is on administrative leave as Georgia Highway Patrol investigates the deadly wreck. “He's having some struggle dealing with what occurred, of course.”
WSB-TV Atlanta A memorial to a 10-year-old boy who died at the same crossing.

Cars reportedly zip through the intersection, where a decade-old memorial already stands for a 10-year-old boy hit and killed at the same spot.
"I'm never going to know what really happened,” McDougal told the news station. “ just want some closure.”