Joshua B. Good, Mary Lou Pickel, Staff December 15, 2000, Friday, Home Edition Copyright 2000 The Atlanta Constitution The Atlanta Journal and Constitution December 15, 2000, Friday, Home Edition
(ATLANTA, Ga.) -- Police shot a man who led them on a chase from Atlanta to Douglasville Thursday with his young son and another man in the car. The driver, who had knocked down a cop during a roadblock in Atlanta, shot at police as he sped along I-20. The boy was scratched by flying glass but was otherwise unharmed. His father was shot several times, but survived. The other man in the car was not hurt.
It was the second time this year Kevin Leonard Grant, 22, of Atlanta, has survived being shot by police.
The chase rolled to an end in downtown Douglasville at 3:41 p.m. when Grant put the gun to his head and then slumped over the steering wheel of his car, apparently playing possum.
What happened next is not perfectly clear. Police ran up to the slow-moving car. Some police accounts indicate Grant grabbed his gun and shot at police and they shot back. Another version: He was shot while police struggled to pull him from the car.
Grant, 22, who also uses the name Devin Bernard Grant, was flown to Grady Memorial Hospital where he was in stable condition, said Atlanta police Deputy Chief Wesley Derrick.
Grant was also shot by police on Oct. 20. He aimed a 9 mm Beretta at an Atlanta police officer, and the officer shot him in the foot, according to a police report. Grant went to jail on a long list of charges, including aggravated assault on a police officer and cocaine possession, but posted bail.
On Thursday, Grant’s conflict with police started at Englewood Avenue and Gault Street south of Grant Park, where police set up a roadblock to check for stolen cars. Grant pulled a white Plymouth into the roadblock at 3:20 p.m. and handed his driver’s license to a cop, Derrick said.
The officer, W.D. Reundaville, radioed in Grant’s name. Moments later the dispatcher said Grant was wanted in Smyrna for failing to appear in court on misdemeanor traffic charges. There was also a warning Grant was dangerous because he had pointed a gun at an officer.
“As soon as he figured he was wanted, he put his foot on the accelerator,” Derrick said.
Reundaville was standing in front of the Plymouth. He was knocked down. At first police believed he had a broken leg, but later learned he was OK.
Officers chased Grant, who leaned out his window shooting a .40-caliber handgun, Derrick said. A supervisor ordered Atlanta police officers not to return fire because the child was in the car. A police helicopter joined the chase.
The 21-minute chase ended on Bankhead Highway in Douglasville.
Television helicopters hovered overhead and showed live broadcasts of its conclusion.
H.M. Hulsey, who owns a Chevron station in Douglasville, saw the slow- moving Plymouth with dozens of cop cars creeping along behind it.
“At first I thought it was a police parade or something,” Hulsey said. “But when I saw the guys running with guns then I knew it was something serious. When I heard the shots I ducked behind the pumps.”
Police charged Grant with aggravated assault. His son, who is 3 or 4 years old, was put in the care of social workers.