Four Georgia State Patrol troopers were fired after an internal investigation found they had filed personal injury claims to collect money from drivers involved in pursuits they handled on the job.
What happened: The Georgia Department of Public Safety says information surfaced in January that the four troopers had taken a large number of crash and incident reports from their own cases and handed them to an attorney. The attorney then used those reports to seek money from the insurance policies of drivers who had started the pursuits the troopers were involved in ending.
The investigation: The department’s Office of Professional Standards, which handles internal misconduct cases, reviewed the claims. Investigators found the troopers’ conduct violated department policy and ethical standards. All four were fired.
What’s still unknown: The department has not said how much money the troopers sought or received, how many reports were involved, or whether any criminal charges are being considered.
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.
