A Bibb County deputy pulled over a driver doing 60 mph in a 35-mph zone near Riverside Drive and, as it turned out, the speeding was just the beginning.
What’s Happening: Deputy Dalton Palmer, part of the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office H.E.A.T. Unit, spotted a Toyota with a cracked windshield traveling at nearly double the posted speed limit off Riverside Drive. He stopped the vehicle and took the driver into custody — a decision that kept getting more interesting the longer it went on.
What’s Important: The driver had a suspended license and was also wanted on an active arrest warrant at the time of the stop. Three separate legal issues, one traffic stop — a trifecta that suggests this particular driver had been having a complicated relationship with the law for some time.
How This Affects Real People: The driver was removed from a public road where they were traveling 25 mph over the speed limit, without a valid license, and with an outstanding warrant — apparently in a hurry to get somewhere, though perhaps not somewhere they’d have chosen voluntarily.
Residents near Riverside Drive are safer as a result.
FROM THE BOOK
“Somewhere along the way, we stopped considering other people. Blinkers? Optional. Four-way stops? A chaotic free-for-all.”
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
