Man disputes officer-involved shooting

ATLANTA - Noel Hall told reporters he did nothing to provoke the single shot fired by Atlanta Police Officer Mathieu Cadeau -- a shot that left him with four wounds the night of February 28.

"The bullet went in through the back of my arm, out through my bicep, into the side of my chest and out through the middle of my chest. I still can't even understand why he shot me," Hall said.

Hall, who lives in Morgantown, North Carolina, was in Atlanta for Motorfest, a motocross event at the Georgia Dome where his son was competing.

Hall said he was trying to get to a section of the Georgia World Congress Center that he said he had access to, despite lane closures that night. That's when he encountered officer Cadeau working an off-duty traffic job at the intersection of Ivan Allen Blvd and Northside Drive. He said things got ugly when he showed Cadeau his credentials.

"I showed him my credentials. I was polite. I was respectful. I called him ‘sir’ and he just would never listen to me. He kept telling and refusing to let me go," Hall said from his attorneys' office in downtown Atlanta.

Hall said he drove around Cadeau, not knowing he was ignoring the instructions of an Atlanta police officer. He said he thought the loud noise he heard was the officer smacking his van until he saw the bullet hole in the passenger window inches away from his wife's head.

"My shoulder was killing me and I realized my shirt was already saturated with blood. My wife asked if someone shot at us and I said, "I guess he shot us," Hall said.

The officer reportedly told Atlanta police investigators and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Hall charged at him with the van, leaving the officer to fire out of fear for his own safety. But attorney Sheen Williams with the Cochran Firm Atlanta takes issue with that claim and said witnesses even dispute it.

"Think about it like this. If he was trying to hit the officer, why was he never charged? It didn't happen. It's a lie by the police to justify the shooting. But this shooting was illegal and unjustified," Williams said.

Officials with the Atlanta Police Department are not commenting about the case. A spokesman for the GBI said the investigation continues. All findings will be turned over to the Fulton County District Attorney for a final review.

Officer Cadeau remains on desk duty pending the outcome of the investigation.

"I think he should be fired so this doesn't have to happen to any other family," Hall said.

RELATED: No charges yet for driver in Atlanta officer-involved shooting