Byron cop indicted after suspect was shot. He still works for city, police captain says

Editor’s note: This story has been updated after the Byron Police Department clarified the former officer no longer works as a cop but is still working for the city of Byron.

A former Byron police officer has been indicted after he shot a suspect in a chase last year, the Byron Police Department said Monday.

A Peach County grand jury indicted former officer James Ryan Carroll after he allegedly shot a suspect during a police chase in Byron on Oct. 23, 2023, according to the police department and Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Carroll has been charged with aggravated assault and violation of oath by a public officer, according to his indictment.

District Attorney Anita Howard presented the case to a grand jury Friday.

Police Chief Wesley Cannon said he believes Carroll had reasonable grounds for shooting at the suspect.

“It is my opinion that Carroll’s actions were legally justified in this case and Carroll is still employed with the City of Byron,” Cannon said in a media release.

Carroll does not work at the police department anymore and was transferred to another city department, Police Capt. Bryan Hunter told The Telegraph Monday.

He wasn’t arrested over the indictment and doesn’t have a court date upcoming yet, according to Kelli Vasquez-Lopez, deputy clerk handling criminal cases with Peach County Superior Court.

The grand jury said in its indictment that Carroll “willfully and intentionally” violated his oath as a police officer by unlawfully shooting the suspect. The indictment says he swore to perform his duties as a police officer for the Byron Police Department without malice but shot the suspect “without legal authority.”

Cop allegedly shot into moving car ‘multiple times’

The suspect was shot and tased after he allegedly stole a car and refused to follow Carroll’s instructions, according to the GBI.

The GBI did a preliminary independent investigation into the shooting, as requested by BPD.

The police department received a 911 call regarding a stolen car possibly in Byron, taken from the Atlanta area on Oct. 23, 2023. Officers searched and found the stolen Silver 2018 Volkswagen Atlas at a McDonald’s in Byron off of Highway 49, but nobody was inside the car, according to the GBI’s preliminary investigation.

Carroll tried to find the driver, who then left McDonald’s and got into the vehicle. The driver was later identified as Kory Matyas Karpich, 37, from Gainesville.

The officer “instructed Karpich to get out of the car, but he refused to follow instructions,” the GBI said in a news release. Carroll then “broke a window to enter the car” and tased him.

But the taser was “ineffective,” the GBI said.

Karpich tried to drive away and crashed into the McDonald’s building and Carroll’s patrol car, which was parked directly behind the stolen car, according to the GBI.

“The officer shot into the moving car multiple times, hitting Karpich,” the GBI said.

Karpich drove away from the scene and officers chased after him until he crashed the car in Bibb County, the GBI said.

He was taken into custody without further incident, and treated at a medical center in Macon for his injuries. No officers were injured.

Karpich wound up being charged with possession of drug related objects, methamphetamine, fleeing or alluding a police officer, obstruction and theft by receiving or possessing stolen property.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.