Atlanta police release footage of Gwinnett transit bus hijacking

Ricky Ferraro and Willie Adams, officers with the auto crime unit, told Channel 2 Action News they practice for these types of situations but have never seen one happen in the city. Both men said they consider the speed of the bus, traffic and the safety of passengers and other drivers when using the “stop sticks.”

“As soon as the brake sticks made contact with the tires, you could hear the tires whistling, which means I had a good deployment,” Ferrao told the news station.

The bus chase began near 45 Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd., about two hours after a shooting inside The Hub, a food hall in an office building at 235 Peachtree St. The suspect, Joseph Grier, 39, witnessed the shooting and even spoke to an AJC reporter at the scene.

Grier is accused of boarding the Gwinnett Transit bus, where he got into a fight with Ernest Byrd Jr., 58, who pulled out a gun. He allegedly took the gun, shot Byrd and threatened passengers with the weapon, authorities said.

Several law enforcement officers, including Atlanta police, Georgia State Police, Gwinnett police and DeKalb police, surrounded the bus as it gave chase toward Gwinnett. The DeKalb County SWAT unit eventually stopped the bus.

The SWAT unit’s BearCat, a 10-ton armored personnel carrier wrapped in a ½- to 1½-inch-thick steel body, came grille-to-grille with the bus about a half-hour after the chase began.

Senior Patrol Officer Dashawn Thomas said he had to navigate numerous other vehicles – and police officers – to get the BearCat into position.

“We do a lot of training in intercepting vehicles, especially buses,” Thomas told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “So I knew the weight of the BearCat would be able to intercept the bus and bring it to a stop.”

Grier faces charges of murder, hijacking of a motor vehicle, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and multiple counts of kidnapping and aggravated assault.