SandyMaloneMarietta, GA – Authorities say a Marietta police officer was kidnapped by Massachusetts gang members during a traffic stop, and taken on a wild ride on Thursday (video below).
Marietta Police Officer Brian Wallace made a traffic stop on a white Ford Fusion at about 7:30 a.m. on March 8, KSAZ reported.
Officer Wallace smelled marijuana and asked the driver, Cory Moody, to step out of the vehicle, police said.
The dashcam video from the officer’s police vehicle showed him patting down the driver for weapons.
Just as Officer Wallace’s backup arrived, the driver made a dash for the door and jumped back in his car.
Officer Wallace followed him, reaching into the vehicle to grab the suspect. Marietta Police Sergeant Brian Honea rushed to assist him.
But then the driver grabbed onto the police officer, and stomped on the gas, the video showed.
Officer Wallace was pulled into the vehicle as it took off, and Sgt. Honea was tossed to the pavement. He was not injured and scrambled to get safely away from the busy highway.
Police chased the suspect’s vehicle across highways, down gravel and dirt roads, and eventually, across a field where the car became stuck.
The chase went as fast as 71 mph at times, and police said Officer Wallace was trying to close the driver door of the car at that point so he wouldn’t fall out and be killed. Police said Officer Wallace was wresting with Moody throughout the chase.
Near the end of the chase, one suspect jumped out of the car and fled on foot. He was quickly apprehended, according to KSAZ.
Finally, when the suspect’s vehicle became stuck in the mud, police were able to take Moody and the other occupants into custody, and free Officer Wallace. Police K9 officers recovered two handguns that he been thrown out of the vehicle by the suspects.
Marietta police said Moody and his passengers, Eyzaiya Moody and Walter Gadson Jr., were arrested and booked into the Cobb County Jail.
“While charges are not yet finalized, Cory Moody (driver), Eyzaiya Moody and Walter Gadson Jr. (passengers) all face charges ranging from assault, obstruction, fleeing and eluding, kidnapping, felon in possession of a firearm and any traffic-related violations,” Officer Chuck McPhilamy, spokesperson for the Marietta Police Department, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The suspects were from Massachusetts and police have identified them as gang members, Officer McPhilamy said.
You can see the dash camera video of the kidnapping and pursuit below: