Police Officer Taylor Saulters Fired For Driving Car Into Suspect Running Away

A Georgia police officer was fired Saturday after dashcam video from his patrol car captured him hitting a suspect with his vehicle during a chase. The incident took place on June 1 and the decision came after Athens-Clarke County police department reviewed the video.

The video, which was shared to the public, shows Saulters driving after 23-year-old Timmy Patmon, who was running on foot through a neighborhood while wanted on a felony probation warrant.​

Saulters could be seen charging his car after Patmon, and at one point knocking him to the ground.

"Man, you hit me with your car!" Patmon told Saulters, who countered saying: "I know what I did. Why'd you run?"

Patmon was taken to a hospital where he was treated for injuries caused after he was hit by the car, the police department said. He was then taken to the Clarke County Jail for the probation violation. He was charged with obstruction of a law enforcement officer.

"We are aware of a Facebook post regarding an incident that occurred on Friday afternoon, June 1st, during a foot pursuit and the subsequent arrest of a subject by our officers. There have been some concerns, brought to us by the community, over the actions of our officers during this incident," the police department said in a statement Saturday on its Facebook page.

"Chief Freeman has initiated an internal affairs investigation, and the incident itself is being investigated by Georgia State Patrol. One officer has been placed on administrative leave while both the internal investigation and Georgia State Patrol investigation are underway," it added.

A police department spokesman told local media that officials believe Saulters mistakenly hit Patmon with his vehicle, but that he was negligent in the incident.

“It’s police brutality, it sure is. It’s wrong,” Brown Patmon told the Atlanta-based station WSBTV.

In the video, witnesses to the crash can be heard screaming at the responding officers while questioning Saulters’ actions.

“Why’d you hit that man with your car like that?” a woman shouts.

Saulters also reportedly threatened to use a stun gun on him when Patmon didn't immediately place his hands behind his back during the arrest.

Following the incident, Saulters told his fellow officers that the vehicle collision was unintentional.

“I didn’t hit him with the car, I blocked him with the car,” he said. “He ran into the hood of my car and bounced off.”