A Marietta city councilman has entered a not guilty plea to charges he obstructed police officers investigating a traffic collision in which was involved.
Reginald Copeland also waived his formal arraignment scheduled for Friday, Sept. 20 before Cobb County State Court Chief Judge Maria Golick, said Sanford Wallack, Copeland’s attorney.
“We look forward to the opportunity to respond to the charges against Mr. Copeland in court to show his innocence,” Wallack told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Court records show Copeland’s jury trial will be held 9:30 a.m. Oct. 11 in Golick’s courtroom.
Copeland, 57, was charged in May with three counts of misdemeanor obstruction after Marietta police say he refused to provide a driver’s license or get out of his truck when asked to do so by police. Officers had to physically remove him from the truck and handcuff him.
RELATED | Marietta Councilman charged with obstruction following wreck
According to police, Copeland’s 2017 Ford pickup truck was struck May 24 by a woman making a U-turn at the intersection of South Fairground and Haley streets. Officers responded to the collision and asked Copeland to provide his driver’s license, which he refused, an arrest warrant states.
He also resisted getting out of the truck “by grabbing the center console and pulling himself toward the center of the vehicle,” according to the warrant. Copeland was removed from the truck, handcuffed, taken into custody and booked into the Cobb County jail.He was released with a $1,870 bond.
Copeland, who was elected to his first term in November 2017, was not injured in the crash. The woman, who had a passenger in the car at the time of the incident, was also not injured, but was cited for the collision.
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