62-year-old man dies in custody after Atlanta officer shoots him with Taser

ATLANTA - The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the death of a man who an Atlanta police officer shot with a Taser and put in handcuffs Thursday night.

According to the GBI, at around 11:20 p.m., an APD officer was called to the scene of a crash at the intersection of Cunningham Place and Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard. The Atlanta Police Department says they received multiple calls about the crash before arriving.

At the scene, police say the officer determined that 62-year-old Johnny Hollman was the at-fault driver. The officer attempted to give Hollman a traffic citation, but officials say the man became "agitated and uncooperative" during the interaction.

When the officer tried to take him into custody, the GBI reports that Hollman got into a struggle with the law enforcement agent, which ended when the officer fired his Taser and put Hollman in handcuffs.

After he was restrained, the officer realized that Hollman had become unresponsive and called for medics, who rushed the man to a nearby hospital. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. 

The cause of Hollman's death has not been determined. His body has been transported to the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.

The GBI is conducting its own independent investigation, which will be given to the Atlanta Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review once it is completed. The Atlanta Police Department has opened its own investigation and has placed the unidentified officer on administrative leave.

If you have any information about Hollman's death, call the GBI regional investigative office in Conyers at (706) 388-5019 or its tip line at 1-800-597-TIPS (8477).