A grand jury will review the evidence gathered after a driver was shot and killed by a Lenoir City police officer.
The shooting happened just after 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning on Highway 321 near I-75.
Officer Tyrel Lorenz, 29, was sent to the Bimbo's convenience center after a 911 call from a nearby Ruby Tuesday's about three people who had just left the restaurant in a pickup truck.
Officer Lorenz questioned the three as they pumped gas at Bimbo's. According to a release from District Attorney General Russell Johnson, Lorenz had placed one of the three in handcuffs when the driver, Joshua William Grubb, 30, of Clinton, began driving away.
Lorenz ordered Grubb to stop several times before TBI investigators said he jumped into the back of the truck as it left the parking lot. He continued to order Grubb to stop from the bed of the pickup truck, but as the vehicle accelerated onto Highway 321, Lorenz shot the driver multiple times.
The truck traveled into oncoming traffic on the wrong side of the road and finally stopped when it hit a utility pole head on, less than a mile away from where the confrontation started.
Lorenz jumped out of the truck and attempted to help Grubb, who was pronounced dead when E.M.S. arrived a short time later.
D.A.G. Johnson said Lorenz was unharmed, but initial reports said he had minor injuries. He had been with the Lenoir City Police Department since July 2015, and a law enforcement officer since 2010. He is on paid administrative leave pending the completion of the investigation.
The two other people in the truck with Grubb were arrested. Toni Ann Sutton, 40, of Heiskell, was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. Brandon Lawrence Taylor, 31, of Clinton, was charged with public intoxication and evading arrest.
The TBI was immediately called to the scene to investigate the shooting. They are reviewing all evidence, including video from Lorenz's dash camera and body camera, as well as surveillance video from Bimbo's.
When their report is complete, the D.A.'s office will present their findings to the next meeting of the Loudon County grand jury in April.
Original story: 3/13/16
The TBI is investigating an officer involved shooting that happened early Sunday morning in Lenoir City.
According to the preliminary investigation, a Lenoir City Police Department officer was sent to check on a call of a possible DUI. The officer saw the pickup truck at the Citgo Gas Station on Highway 321 immediately off I-75.
When the officer tried to arrest the driver, 33-year-old Joshua Grubb of Lebanon, Tennessee, he drove away. According to TBI's early investigation, the officer jumped into the bed of the truck and stayed there while the suspect drove down the road.
Grubb refused to stop after the officer requested he do so. The officer fired shots into the cab of the truck, hitting and killing Grubb.
The truck stopped by slamming into a telephone poll outside of the Mobil Gas Station, that store is only half a mile down the road from where the incident began.
Two others have been arrested in connection with this case. Both were passengers in the vehicle.
According to Chief Don White, Brandon Taylor was arrested for public intoxication and evading arrest.
Toni Sutton, a female passenger, was arrested for drug paraphernalia.
According to Chief White, Officer Lorenz had only been with the department for about a year, but had no previous disciplinary action.
The officer had minor injuries. Chief Don White, with Lenoir City Police, says the department is standing by the officers actions.
"At the end of the day we have to protect the public and ourselves, so when we feel that threat has risen to loss of life we have to take action that would rise to deadly force," said White.