Man accused of dragging Brookhaven police officer with car

A man was jailed after he dragged a Brookhaven police officer with his car during a traffic stop, police say.

According to police, Officer T. Lefever noticed a vehicle stopped in the intersection of Peachtree Road and Dresden Drive just before 4 a.m. Wednesday. The officer approached the car and noticed a driver slumped over the steering wheel. Officer Lefever work up the driver, who gave the officer a fake name and date of birth, police say.

As the officer questioned the driver, police say the man put the car in drive and tried to speed away. Officer Lefever had tried to stop the man by putting his arm into the car. But the officer got lodged in the widow, police say, and as the car sped up, Lefever was afraid he would suffer serious injuries if he let go and fell to the ground.

Officer Lefever then said to the driver, "You're going to kill me," as he tried to climb inside the car. The driver replied "I don't want to kill you," and stopped the car.

At that point, the driver got out of the car, without putting it in park. As other officers watched the driver, Officer Lefever got into the moving car and stopped it before it hit anything in the neighborhood where the incident ended.

The driver, identified as 38-year-old Tyrone Champan, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault on police, felony obstruction of justice and other charges. He was held in the DeKalb County Jail.
Brookhaven police chief Gary Yandura said, "We are very thankful that Officer Lefever was not injured in this incident... This situation could have ended very badly for our officer and the suspect."