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Ex-APD Officer Oliver Simmonds murder trial begins
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 another person was in the car and waved a gun,'" Pitts testified.
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At the time of the shooting, Simmonds was assigned to the Executive Protection Unit responsible for safeguarding then-Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. He was later indicted on charges of felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and two counts of violation of oath of public office.
A photo of Officer Oliver Simmonds (foreground) against an image from the scene of an officer-involved shooting on Jan. 15, 2019 (background). (Atlanta Police Department | FOX 5)
Simmonds declined a plea deal offered before the trial, which would have required him to serve 20 years, with 10 in prison and 10 on probation. The trial's duration remains uncertain.
He had been a member of the Atlanta Police Department for over eight years when the shooting occurred.
Simmonds was charged with felony murder, aggravated assault, two counts of violation of oath by public officer, and murder.