Police searching for hit-and-run motorist in fatal accident
By
Posted 7:37AM on Tuesday, December 24, 2002
EAST POINT - East Point police are mourning the death of fellow officer killed in a three-car accident on Atlanta's perimeter highway Sunday. <br>
<br>
Officer Christopher Betts was killed after he and his partner -- officer James Weinmann -- stumbled into oncoming traffic during a scuffle with a suspect who was resisting arrest on the side of the road. <br>
<br>
Betts' death in the line of duty was the department's first since 1969. <br>
<br>
The suspect -- identified as 34-year-old Renard Banks -- also was killed. Weinmann underwent surgery and is in stable condition. <br>
<br>
The scuffle spilled out into the roadway, where they were struck by a minivan, police say, which was struck by two other cars. <br>
<br>
The second vehicle, described as a mid- to late-1980s brown Honda Accord with possible damage to its front and left side, sped away. Police are searching for the driver. <br>
<br>
The city of East Point has set up a trust fund for Weinmann and Betts' wife, Shannon, and his seven-week-old son, Trenton.