CONYERS, Ga. — A Covington man is dealing with a number of expenses after he reportedly dragged a Conyers police officer whereas making an attempt to flee a site visitors cease.
The suspect, 55-year-old William Cornelius of Covington, has been charged with aggravated assault in opposition to a legislation enforcement officer, felony fleeing and eluding, obstruction, plus “a number of site visitors associated offenses,” per a Jan. 1 information launch from the Conyers Police Division (CPD).
In line with the discharge, at roughly 4:17 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2025, Cornelius was pulled over by an unnamed CPD officer who seen that Cornelius’s car had a brake gentle out and a tinted license plate cowl. Upon making contact, the officer reportedly suspected Cornelius to have been driving beneath the affect.
“[Cornelius] grew to become non-compliant and began bodily resisting,” the discharge states. “The officer deployed his taser, however Cornelius continued to withstand.”
The discharge additional states that Cornelius returned to the driving force’s seat of his car. Because the officer tried to take away Cornelius from the seat, he reportedly started to drive the car, dragging the officer. The officer was dragged roughly 35-40 ft earlier than he was capable of let go of the car.
The officer was hospitalized, however the launch notes that he has since been despatched residence and is recovering.
Following the incident on the site visitors cease, authorities circulated an outline of Cornelius’s car and utilized FLOCK cameras to find it. An unspecified period of time later, officers situated Cornelius’s car.
“Officers pursued Cornelius for a brief distance onto I-20 westbound close to West Avenue till a precision immobilization approach (PIT) was used to disable Cornelius’s car,” the discharge states.
Officers arrested Cornelius on the scene with out additional incident. Cornelius was taken to a close-by hospital for accidents he sustained throughout the PIT, which the discharge describes as non-life-threatening.
