UPDATE: Grand jury: Officers justified for using deadly force in Warnell incident

Published 4:01 pm Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Nick Warnell.

Editor’s note: Click the link at left to read the grand jury’s full presentment in this case, which includes the district attorney’s narrative.

MOULTRIE, Ga. — A Colquitt County grand jury has agreed that officers were justified in the use of deadly force in an incident that claimed the life of Nick Warnell on Sept. 6.

Warnell was engaged in two gun battles with different officers that night, according to the presentment of the grand jury, which was released on Tuesday. An autopsy determined his blood alcohol level was 0.018 and he tested positive for methamphetamine, court documents said.

District Attorney Brad Shealy had recommended no action be taken against the officers, and the grand jury concurred.

About 8 p.m. Sept. 6, Deputy Chief Daniel Lindsay and Investigator Justin Lindsay of the Moultrie Police Department and Detective Channing McDowell of the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office were assisting Terry Allegood and Andrea Hampton of the Department of Community Supervision to conduct a check on two probationers on Bob Hiers Road, a dirt road off Hall Road near Berlin.

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Three residences are located at the dead end of Bob Hiers Road. The officers checked on a probationer at the center residence with no incident, the DA’s narrative to the grand jury said. They looked for the other probationer at one of the other residences but he wasn’t there.

As the officers gathered and prepared to leave, an SUV approached, driving in a “cautious manner,” the narrative said. McDowell shone a flashlight to get the driver to stop, but instead the SUV turned toward the residence of the probationer who hadn’t been home.

McDowell approached the moving vehicle to see if that person was in it, but the SUV drove through a line of flowers and/or shrubs. The driver kept moving his right hand from off the steering wheel to inside the vehicle despite the officer’s order to stop and “show me your hands.”

McDowell drew his weapon, and the Lindsay brothers got into their vehicles and approached to try to stop the SUV. The driver accelerated and “fled in a dangerous manner down Bob Hiers Road toward Hall Road. His vehicle was ‘fish tailing’ and almost ran in the ditch,” the DA’s narrative said.

Just before the SUV left the area, two passengers jumped out. When approached by law enforcement, they identified the driver as Warnell.

The Lindsays activated their lights and gave chase onto Hall Road. The SUV came to a stop at the intersection of Hall Road and Hempstead Road, and the officers blocked it in with one car on the left and the other angled from the right across the SUV’s front.

Both officers approached the closed driver’s door. Justin Lindsay had his gun drawn ordering Warnell to show his hands. The vehicle was still running; Daniel Lindsay reached through the window, put the vehicle in park and unlocked the door.

The door was opened with Justin Lindsay in the V of the door ordering Warnell to show him his hands, but Warnell moved his hands back and forth within the vehicle. Justin Lindsay finally pulled his Taser and deployed it, but only one of the two prongs attached, so the Taser was ineffective.

Warnell threw the vehicle in reverse and accelerated backwards. Daniel Lindsay was able to back away, but Justin Lindsay was caught between the door and the vehicle itself. He grabbed hold of the vehicle to prevent rolling under it. The SUV dragged him until it hit his car and stopped, when he was able to let go and roll away from it.

At this point, Warnell produced a rifle, the DA’s narrative said, and Daniel Lindsay pulled his weapon and fired an estimated 13 rounds. Warnell turned his vehicle around and headed back down Hall Road but pulled to the side of the road.

Daniel Lindsay pulled his brother to safety and retrieved his rifle from his vehicle.

“At this point both J. Lindsay and D. Lindsay heard rifle fire and saw sparks flying off the pavement,” the DA’s narrative said. “Both law enforcement vehicles were struck by gunfire. Warnell fled the scene without the officers firing their weapons at this time.”

Sgt. Chris Thomas of the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Lindsays’ call for assistance and encountered Warnell on Cannon Road, the DA’s narrative said. As he was coming from the other direction, he made a U-turn to begin the pursuit, but he saw the SUV’s tail lights in or near the ditch in the 2200 block of Cannon Road.

“He subsequently observed sparks shooting across the road and realized he was being fired upon,” the narrative said. “He immediately pulled off the side of the road and ducked behind the console of his vehicle. He could hear bullets hitting his vehicle. It was struck approximately six times and was recorded on his dash video camera.”

Thomas retrieved his AR15, got out of his vehicle and fired at where he last saw muzzle flashes. He continued to fire as Warnell drove off. He fired about six shots, the DA’s narrative said.

Thomas pursued the SUV, saw it swerve to the left side and correct itself. He continued to follow it until it drove off the right side of the road into the woods. Fearing another assault, he backed off, set up a perimeter and waited for backup, the narrative said.

The Lowndes County Special Response Team was called in. When they entered the woods, they found the SUV about 54 feet from the road, still running with Warnell deceased in the driver’s seat.

Inside the vehicle was an SKS rifle and a 9mm Smith and Wesson handgun, along with a number of bullets and three partially loaded magazines for the SKS, the DA’s narrative said.

The autopsy determined one of Thomas’s bullets entered Warnell’s back and killed him. He had other bruises and fragment wounds, but that shot was the cause of death, the DA’s narrative said.

“Based on the foregoing facts the use of deadly force against Nicholas Ryan Warnell was justified under the laws of this state,” the DA’s narrative said. “Sgt. Chris Thomas had every reasonable belief that his life was in danger and was therefore justified in his use of deadly force when Nick Warnell opened fire on him.”

Justin Lindsay was taken to the hospital after the incident but was able to return to work within a few days, officials told The Observer in September. Daniel Lindsay and Thomas were placed on administrative leave but both returned to duty by mid-November.