A Cornelia police officer who shot out the tire of a vehicle with an alleged DUI driver and an infant inside is back on patrol. Sgt. Deloney Gunnels returned to work on July 9, according to Cornelia Police Chief Chad Smith.
Before returning to work, Gunnels had been on administrative leave since the incident on Tuesday, June 29.
There are still two open investigations into the shooting, which, according to arrest warrants, happened as the DUI suspect, Ashly Tolbert, threatened officers with the 2005 Mercury Mariner she was driving. The warrants allege Tolbert dragged Cornelia Police Officer Andrea Hunter and struck Sgt. Gunnels in the left arm with her vehicle while escaping arrest.
In an apparent attempt to stop the vehicle, Gunnels fired one round into a tire.
After the shooting, Tolbert, 38, of Dawsonville, led police on a chase that exceeded 65 MPH, arrest warrants show. Officials say the chase ended after Tolbert rear-ended a car, disabling her vehicle.
No one was injured in the incident. Cornelia Police requested the GBI to investigate because, according to Smith, the shooting was “not standard procedure.” Still, he says, everything in the internal investigation so far indicates Gunnels did not violate department policy.
“Considering the totality of the circumstances, he did what he thought was best to stop the vehicle,” Chief Smith tells Now Habersham. “There was an officer in the window trying to get her [Tolbert] to stop, and there was a baby in the backseat. Sgt. Gunnels knew how messed up the driver was.”
Police booked Tolbert into the Habersham County Detention Center. Georgia State Patrol charged her with four misdemeanors for DUI, child endangerment, reckless driving, and hit-and-run. She also faces five felony counts, including fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, and two counts each of obstructing or hindering a law enforcement officer and aggravated assault on a police officer.
The Department of Family and Children Services took custody of the baby, which the GBI says was Tolbert’s child, immediately following the incident. As of July 14, Tolbert remained in jail on a $76,800 bond.
Gunnels is a 25-year law enforcement veteran and has been with the Cornelia Police Department for 12 years. In 2019, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety named him the Northeast Traffic Enforcement Network’s Officer of the Year.
According to Chief Smith, Cornelia PD’s internal investigation into the incident will remain ongoing until the GBI completes its probe.
