I-75 standoff suspect: 'Frozen by fear'

COBB COUNTY, Ga. (FOX 5 Atlanta) - Taylor Alexander Smith-Duffy said he was paralyzed by fear during Friday's police standoff on Interstate 75 in Cobb County Friday. "My body didn't want to move. I froze up. They tried to get me out of the car and I couldn't get out the car," the Kennesaw man told FOX 5's Deidra Dukes.

Marietta police officers pulled him over Friday morning, guns drawn, believing his car matched the description of a vehicle involved in an armed robbery earlier that day.

"And the next thing I know there's like three cop cars and they're flashing lights at me and I was like what's going on," he said.

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Police won't discuss the specific case, but say such a show of force is warranted when officers are making a felony stop.

“We attempt to pull the car over. The car doesn't initially stop, ask yourself what that looks like to us in our uniform," Marietta Police Officer Charles McPhilamy said. "If we think you match the description and suddenly you are not stopping, doesn't that immediately raise your attention that this might be the guy.”

With several cops on the scene, pointing guns at him Smith-Duffy knew this was no ordinary traffic stop. He said one of the officers addressed him over a loudspeaker.

"’Roll down your windows, stop your car, no sudden movements,’ and I was confused because whoever they were with they all had guns pointed at that time. "

Smith-Duffy made a quick call to his fiancée.

"Then afterward, I called 911 to tell them that there are cops here, they are pointing guns at me. I don't know what's going on."

About two hours into the standoff SWAT team members approached his car, physically removing the 25-year-old from the vehicle.

"I was just in shock; I didn't want to move. I was frozen."

The Army vet, still shaken days later, is eager to clear his name. He is having a hard time putting it behind him.

"I can't even go down the street pass by a police officer without feeling like I'm getting shot. Like, it doesn't make sense."

RELATED: Standoff on I-75 with robbery suspect ends in arrest