Across the region

Teen dies after fall from bed of pickup

DULUTH, GA. - A 17-year-old Duluth boy died after falling out of the back of a truck driven by his mother, police said.

Steven Dixon and another male were in the bed of a pickup traveling down Pleasant Hill Road in Gwinnett County about midnight Wednesday when Steven tumbled from the vehicle, police said.

Steven was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police spokesman Darren Moloney said the death appears to be an accident and no erratic driving was involved. An autopsy is being performed on the teen's body.

Police arrest 9, seize $14 million in drugs

ATHENS, GA. - Authorities in Barrow, Clarke and Gwinnett counties arrested nine people in a drug bust after seizing more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana and 80 kilos of cocaine.

The bust comes after a three-week investigation by police in the counties into drug trafficking in the area. Acting on a tip, authorities searched a house near Dacula, Ga., late Tuesday where they confiscated 1,073 pounds a marijuana, 80 kilos of cocaine and 73 grams of methamphetamine with a street value of at least $14 million, police said.

Man busts wall trying to flee police custody

MARIETTA, GA. - A man under arrest for armed robbery and aggravated assault tried to make his escape from the Marietta Police Department by way of the ceiling.

Gerardo Nieto Campos, who was in custody early Sunday, was put in an interrogation room while police conferred outside.

Officer Casey Camp said the handcuffed Mr. Campos managed to get his bound arms in front of his body, climb on top of the room's table and try to break through the ceiling panels.

Mr. Campos also tried to escape by busting out the drywall of the room.

He caused more than $500 worth of damage to the police station.

Ex-girlfriend is shot, man kills himself

ATHENS, GA. - A 21-year-old Athens man shot and seriously wounded his former girlfriend before killing himself.

ReKelle Smith, 28, is in critical condition after being shot three times by Kiriyaki Zarvous Burgess in her southeastern Clarke County apartment early Wednesday morning.

Mr. Burgess shot himself in the head not far from where Ms. Smith lay wounded.

Office gives opinion on highway jurisdiction

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - Bluffton police do not have the authority to patrol U.S. Highway 278, an opinion from the attorney general's office says.

Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner requested the opinion after getting citizen complaints about Bluffton police patrolling U.S. 278 between state Highway 46 and state Highway 170. The sheriff's office has jurisdiction across the county.

Bluffton city limits border U.S. 278, but do not include the road.

The attorney general's opinion does not have the force of law, but is based on legal research.

Bluffton Police Chief David McAllister said the town's interpretation of the law is that a municipality has the right to patrol a road if it borders one side of it.

When a road serves as a boundary between two jurisdictions, both may patrol it, Chief McAllister said.

Officer is dragged, shoots car's driver

FOUNTAIN INN, S.C. - A Fountain Inn police officer shot a man outside a convenience store after getting dragged alongside the car, Police Chief Keith Morton said.

The man was being treated at Greenville Memorial Hospital and was expected to survive, according to Chief Morton.

The chief said Detective Carey Ladnier thought he had seen a drug transaction and began talking to the man. The man backed up and, as Detective Ladnier walked to the car and opened the door, stepped on the accelerator.

Man sent to prison for Sept. 11 scheme

FLORENCE, S.C. - Former Darlington mobile-home dealer Roy Singleton has been sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay almost $835,000 for obtaining small-business loans intended for Sept. 11 victims.

Mr. Singleton pleaded guilty to charges of bank fraud and mail fraud in May. He was indicted last October.

- Edited from wire reports