By Mark Woolsey

The GBI is investigating a use-of-force case in Cobb County involving a man’s death. The review is being conducted at the request of Cobb police.

Cobb Police say they were called to a reported hit-and-run accident on Powder Springs Road in West Cobb at about 6:10 p.m. Tuesday. An officer encountered a man later identified as 47-year-old Timothy Lyle Sheats of Dallas, Georgia, walking in the road. He told an officer he had been shot, but the officer spotted no apparent injuries.

The officer then asked Sheats to get into his patrol car as a safety measure. Police say Sheats refused and began walking into traffic, at one point attempting to enter a passing car.

Authorities say the officer tased Sheats to keep him out of traffic, then secured him with help from other responding officers.

EMTS soon arrived to evaluate Sheats, who authorities say had become unresponsive. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The GBI says once their investigation is complete, the case will be referred to the Cobb County District Attorney.

The GBI’s role in officer-involved shootings

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation routinely investigates the shooting of individuals by police officers, as well as any time an officer discharges a firearm while on duty, at the request of the police agency involved in the shooting.

Natalie Ammons, the Deputy Director of the GBI’s Office of Public Affairs, explained to us how the system works.

Police agencies are not required to request outside investigation of officer-involved shootings, and there is no formal agreement between the GBI and local police departments.

But police agencies make the request so that an independent agency does the investigation in an incident involving their own officers.

The investigations are carried out by Special Agents in a regional office within the area where the police agency is located. Cobb County, and much of the rest of metro Atlanta, is in the GBI’s Region 10, based in Conyers.

In Region 10, officer involved shootings and corruption investigations are the primary investigations Special Agents do, while in more rural areas with fewer police resources the agents handle a wider range of criminal investigations.

There is no special unit or division that conducts the investigation of officer involved shootings.

The announcements of the investigations can be found at the GBI’s press release web page.