COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) A man who led sheriff's deputies on a car chase died early Monday after being shot with a stun gun, authorities in west Georgia said.
An autopsy was being performed Tuesday on Nicholas Tanner Dyksma, 18, of Columbus, Harris County Coroner Joe Weldon said.
Columbus police were investigating a suspicious vehicle at a convenience store and pursued Dyksma when he sped away toward Harris County, Chief Deputy Neil Adams told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (http://bit.ly/1JJOVqi).
The truck hit a patrol vehicle as deputies tried boxing the driver in and the vehicle stopped on the side of the road, Adams said. Investigators approached the truck and ordered Dyksma to turn the vehicle off, Adams said.
``The windows were rolled up, the doors were locked and the vehicle was still running,'' the newspaper quoted Adams as saying. ``The tires were still spinning. He was trying to get away.''
Deputies broke the truck's windows after Dyksma wouldn't obey orders to turn the vehicle off and a deputy deployed his Taser before taking the man into custody.
Deputies called an ambulance to the scene when they realized Dyksma's breathing was shallow, Dyksma said.
``Between that time and when they arrived, he stopped breathing,'' the newspaper quoted him as saying. ``We took the handcuffs off. We began CPR, and he was transported to the medical center.''
The man later died, and Adams said both the sheriff's office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are investigating.
Sheriff Mike Jolley told WTVM-TV (http://bit.ly/1N08Mqu) that it appears that deputies on the scene followed department policies based on preliminary interviews and footage from cameras mounted on patrol vehicles.
Weldon said he suspects there were contributing factors aside from the stun gun in Dyksma's death. A message left at a number listed for Dyksma's family was not immediately returned.
Friday
April 19th, 2024
1:42PM
