XPost: alt.drugs.pot, aus.legal, misc.legal   
   XPost: uk.legal, uk.politics.drugs   
   From: reality@check.it   
      
   > Pastor fatally shot by police in drug sting   
   >   
   >   
   > Authorities say Jonathan Ayers was in car with drug suspect   
   >   
   > When police approached car, they claim Ayers struck officer with vehicle   
   >   
   > Another officer shot Ayers; both officers placed on paid administrative   
   > leave   
   >   
   > Nothing illegal found in Ayers' vehicle, authorities say   
   >   
   > ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A north Georgia pastor was shot to death by   
   > police when he struck an officer with his car after he was seen in a   
   > vehicle with a drug suspect, authorities told CNN.   
   >   
   > Jonathan Ayers, pastor at Shoal Creek Baptist Church in Lavonia, Georgia,   
   > died after the incident Tuesday afternoon in the nearby town of Toccoa,   
   > Georgia, police said. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) is looking   
   > into the shooting.   
   >   
   > An undercover drug task force team had set up an operation at a local   
   > business, and had a woman under surveillance -- someone they had bought   
   > drugs from on two previous occasions, GBI spokesman John Bankhead told CNN   
   > Thursday.   
   >   
   > The officers saw the woman in a car with Ayers and saw what they believed   
   > was a drug transaction, Bankhead said.   
   >   
   > They followed the car as Ayers dropped the woman off at a gas station.   
   >   
   > The undercover officers wanted to question Ayers about what they had just   
   > seen, he said. "They approached the vehicle. They were in plain clothes.   
   > They identified themselves as police officers, which civilian witnesses   
   > say happened. They also had badges around their necks."   
   >   
   > Ayers put the car in reverse and backed up, striking an officer, Bankhead   
   > said.   
   >   
   > According to Bankhead, Ayers then put the car into drive, and another   
   > officer fired into the car, hitting Ayers, because he thought his life was   
   > in danger.   
   >   
   > "The subject kept going and drove off," Bankhead said. "And later he ran   
   > off the road. He was taken a local hospital, went into surgery and died an   
   > hour later."   
   >   
   > The incident was caught on the gas station's surveillance camera.   
   >   
   > Police later determined what they had seen was not a drug transaction, but   
   > "other circumstances were involved, and that's part of the investigation,"   
   > Bankhead said.   
   >   
   > The woman who was in the car with Ayers was taken into custody and faces   
   > drug charges, Bankhead said.   
   > Stephens County sheriff Randy Shirley has placed both officers involved in   
   > the incident on paid administrative leave, he said. The officer that was   
   > struck by the car was treated and released at a local hospital.   
   >   
   > No drugs and nothing else illegal was found in Ayers' car, Bankhead said,   
   > "even though what occurred would make any undercover officer working drugs   
   > think that was a possibility. I can't get into that, but that's what we're   
   > looking at."   
   >   
   > Shirley told CNN the drug task force unit comprises three Georgia   
   > counties -- Stephens, Habersham and Rabun.   
   > Ayers' sister did not return a call from CNN Thursday.   
   >   
   > Ayers maintained a blog, in which he wrote that he had three loves in   
   > life: "Jesus Christ, my wife Abby, and the Church."   
   >   
   > Toccoa is about 95 miles northeast of Atlanta.   
   >   
   > CNN's Carolina Sanchez contributed to this report.   
   >   
      
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