Ex-APD Officer Oliver Simmonds murder trial begins
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Former Atlanta Officer Oliver Simmonds is on trial for murder after fatally shooting a teen suspect who hijacked his patrol car in 2019. The officer said he was pumping gas when the 18-year-old and another person hopped into his car and drove off. Simmonds testified that he thought the passenger was armed. **ATLANTA** - The murder trial of an Atlanta police officer charged in the deadly shooting of an alleged carjacking suspect in 2019 began on Wednesday. Prosecutors from Fulton County allege that Officer Oliver Simmonds, who was off-duty at the time, shot and killed 18-year-old D'Ettrick Griffin, who was pumping gas at a Shell station near the intersection of McDaniel and Whitehall streets on July 15, 2019.
Simmonds claims that Griffin, along with another individual, entered his vehicle and attempted to drive off, prompting the officer to open fire. The incident ended with Griffin crashing into two other vehicles nearby. Testifying during the trial on Wednesday, one of the responding officers, Officer Pitts of the Atlanta Police Department, recounted that Simmonds believed the passenger in Griffin’s car was armed. Oliver Simmonds stands trial for the murder of 18-year-old D'Ettrick Griffin in Fulton County Superior Court on Sept. 18, 2024.
"I asked him, 'Hey, are you all right? ' and then said, 'We got the car as a carjacking. I just want to make sure you're okay. ' And that's when he said, 'Yeah, I'm okay. I just saw somebody in the car and...