ROBERTA, Ga. — Investigators have concluded charges will NOT be filed after Roberta man Denrick Stallings was fatally shot by a deputy following a car chase back in January.
Macon District Attorney Anita Howard and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation made the announcement Wednesday at a press conference in front of the Crawford County courthouse.
CASE HISTORY
According to the GBI, Crawford County Deputy William Owenby tried to stop Stallings for speeding on Jan. 9 around 12:15 p.m.
The GBI says Stallings did not stop and a chase began that ended with him crashing the car. After the crash, Stallings got out of the car and started running away from the deputy.
Owenby tased Stallings, which caused him to fall to the ground.
The GBI says when the deputy tried to arrest Stallings, he started to fight back and -- during the struggle -- he tried to grab the deputy’s gun. Owenby then fired the gun four times into Stallings' chest at point-blank range, killing him.
His daughter, Dendree Cox, disputed the GBI’s initial findings and said fighting with a deputy was out of character for her father.
Owenby was placed on administrative leave, and it was not his first time being the subject of a use-of-force investigation.
He fatally shot a man during a domestic violence call in April 2020. In that case, Jamie Darley allegedly fired shots and threatened to kill his family members before leading deputies on a high-speed chase.
The chase ended with him running towards his family with a gun and firing a round at deputies before being fatally shot by Owenby.
Then-District Attorney David Cooke cleared Owenby after reviewing the investigative file.