Police said a Walmart theft report led to the Highway 142 stop, an injured officer and the arrest of Destinee Riggins.

COVINGTON, Ga. — A police officer’s order to a driver to put her car in park was followed within seconds by a violent escape captured on body-camera video, according to police and local news reports about an Aug. 14 traffic stop that began with a Walmart shoplifting investigation. The officer was dragged more than 100 yards before falling from the vehicle, authorities said, and the woman later identified as Destinee Riggins was arrested after an hourslong search.

The newly released video became the clearest public record of how a reported retail theft rapidly developed into a serious encounter at a busy QuikTrip along Highway 142 near Interstate 20. Covington police said officers had first been sent to a Walmart on Industrial Drive after a shoplifting report. The suspect had already left by the time police arrived, but an officer located the vehicle across the street as it pulled into the gas station. Riggins, identified by local reports as 19, was later charged with offenses that included aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, shoplifting and fleeing or attempting to elude. Later reports also listed armed robbery among the allegations.

The body-camera recording shows the officer standing at the driver’s side of the car during the stop. He tells Riggins to put the vehicle in park. She responds that it is already in park. The recording then captures the vehicle beginning to move as the officer is positioned at the open window. Police Detective Daniel Seals later told WSB-TV that the officer was already reaching through the window in an effort to stop the driver when the vehicle accelerated. The footage captures the officer yelling as the car moves away with him still alongside it.

Police said the officer remained caught against or hanging from the side of the moving vehicle as it traveled through the QuikTrip property. Local reports described the distance differently in their earliest coverage, with some initially saying several hundred yards and later body-camera reports describing more than 100 yards. The exact measurement does not change the central account: The officer was carried a substantial distance before falling to the pavement. Seals said the officer was in considerable pain when he hit the ground but quickly got up enough to radio other officers about what had happened and where the vehicle was headed.

The circumstances were witnessed by people at the gas station. Andrew Phillips told Atlanta News First that the officer had been speaking with the driver for about a minute before the car suddenly took off. Phillips described seeing the officer taken around the QuikTrip property with the moving vehicle. Other bystanders approached after the officer fell. WSB-TV reported that he was still holding the driver’s license he had obtained during the stop, an important detail that also left investigators with identification information as they began looking for the fleeing driver.

Emergency crews took the unnamed officer to Grady Memorial Hospital. Police described his injuries as scrapes, bruises, bumps and other impact injuries and said he was in stable condition. Early reports stressed that his injuries were not considered life-threatening. Atlanta News First later reported that the officer had recovered and returned to duty. Police have not publicly identified him in the reports reviewed for this story. Seals said the episode illustrated why officers are reluctant to describe any traffic stop as routine, because a seemingly ordinary encounter can change with little warning.

The search did not end at the QuikTrip. Police said Riggins left the vehicle after getting away from the officer. Atlanta News First reported that some of her relatives later picked up the vehicle and were stopped by law enforcement. Investigators reviewed surveillance footage connected to the place where the car was retrieved and used that information as they worked to determine Riggins’ location. Police were also examining whether anyone who handled the vehicle afterward knew she was being sought. At the time of that report, police said no charges had been filed against those family members.

Riggins was arrested later that evening at an apartment complex in Covington. One early report placed the arrest at about 8:30 p.m., roughly four hours after police said the initial shoplifting call came in. The search involved officers trying to follow the car’s movements after it left the gas station and then determining where Riggins had gone after abandoning it. Authorities said she was taken into custody without another reported injury to an officer in the sources reviewed for this story.

Police also said a stolen handgun was connected to the encounter. WSB-TV reported that investigators said Riggins had a stolen handgun in a bag during the traffic stop, while the publicly available reporting does not provide a detailed evidentiary account of how investigators determined ownership or possession of the bag. The presence of the firearm became part of the broader investigation after what had initially been dispatched as a shoplifting complaint. Law enforcement officials have not publicly released all of the underlying evidence, and the reports reviewed do not establish that the weapon was displayed or used against the officer during the stop.

The charges reported against Riggins developed as investigators continued working the case. Initial coverage listed theft by shoplifting, fleeing or attempting to elude and aggravated assault on a police officer. Subsequent reports said she also faced armed robbery, and Law&Crime reported a firearm-related charge involving possession of a firearm or knife during an attempt to commit felonies. The differing lists appear to reflect the investigation developing after the first arrest announcement. Criminal charges are accusations, and the publicly reviewed reports do not establish that Riggins has been convicted of any of them.

The body-camera footage also places several parts of the police account in sequence rather than relying only on witness descriptions. It records the officer speaking with the driver before the sudden acceleration, captures his reaction as the vehicle moves and shows the immediate aftermath after he comes off the car. That evidence does not answer every question about the case, including what happened inside the Walmart before police were called or the full circumstances surrounding the firearm, but it gives investigators and the public a direct recording of the traffic-stop portion of the episode.

The case drew particular attention because the conduct alleged after the shoplifting report was far more serious than the complaint that brought officers to the area. Police began with a call about merchandise allegedly taken from a retailer. Within a short time, an officer was on the pavement, a driver was being sought across the Covington area, investigators were following the movements of an abandoned vehicle and detectives were examining a stolen firearm. Those developments explain why the eventual charge list went beyond the shoplifting allegation that started the police response.

Currently, the injured officer has recovered and returned to duty. WSB-TV reported on Aug. 18 that Riggins remained jailed and that investigators said additional charges or arrests were possible, while Atlanta News First said authorities were still examining the actions of people who later handled the vehicle. The sources reviewed did not provide a later court disposition or establish that any of the allegations against Riggins had been resolved.

Author note: Last updated September 28, 2026.