Walker County sheriff defends officers’ actions in Fort Oglethorpe gunfight

Published 5:46 pm Thursday, June 25, 2009

Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson said he agrees with how officers handled serving the arrest warrants that ended in a gunfight Wednesday in a Fort Oglethorpe Chick-fil-A parking lot.

Wilson said his deputy followed department protocol, as well as Georgia law, during the incident.

“I think we handled it very well,” the sheriff said Thursday.

Deputy Terry Miller was looking for John Curtis Coates, 35, of Rossville to serve a warrant for aggravated stalking. He spotted him driving along Battlefield Parkway around 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday, Wilson said.

Miller called for backup, and Fort Oglethorpe police officer Mitchell Moore arrived, the sheriff said.

When Miller turned on his blue lights, Coates turned into Chick-fil-A’s parking lot, he said.

The officers tried to arrest Coates, but he resisted. The resulting gunfight ended with Moore in the hospital with a wound caused by a bullet that ricocheted off his vest, and in Coates’ death.

Wilson said the officers had no reason to believe Coates would react so violently. He was not armed during any of his past charges.

Most of the charges against Coates were for domestic violence, and no weapons were involved in those incidents.

Until Wednesday, Coates was “not a violent criminal,” Wilson said. “I think that’s been stretched a bit.”

The sheriff said he had nothing but praise for the officers involved and would “respectfully disagree” with anyone who finds fault in their judgment.