GBI investigating suicide during traffic stop in Aragon

A man who was pulled over by police in the Rockmart area on Prospect Road shot himself before officers could speak with him this morning, according to Polk County coroner Tony Brazier.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) has been called in to work the case by the coroner’s office and the Polk County Police Department, Brazier said, following the death of the unidentified man.

Brazier said no details on the man will be released pending notification to the family at this time.

According to Brazier, an Aragon police officer stopped a 2003 Nissan sedan on Prospect road.

“The vehicle initially appeared to have slowed down as though he was about to stop,” Brazier said. “The offi- cer pulled up behind the vehicle, and before he could get out of his car to walk up to the vehicle, the driver – the only occupant – apparently shot himself.”

Brazier said the car then jolted forward while the police officer got out of the way, and then crashed into a ditch on the north side of the CSX rail line running across Prospect Road.

Brazier said both the man and the vehicle were confirmed to have been reported missing from the metro Atlanta area.

The GBI is working the case, Brazier said, as a matter of procedure.

“While it wasn’t an officer-involved shooting, any time an officer is involved in an incident like this, we have to bring in the GBI and let them cover the investigation from A to Z,” he said.