Officer cleared in pedestrian deaths

A Barnesville Police Officer that struck and killed two pedestrians on Veterans Pkwy. on May 16, 2014 was cleared by the Lamar County grand jury Tuesday.Officer Terry Belvin was one of four witnesses grand jurors heard at 1 p.m. Others included, Brandon Stone of the SCRT team, Sgt. Jeannie Devane and a 15 year old juvenile female who was with the men when they were struck but avoided injury herself. Belvin told the grand jurors that he was haunted by the events of the night but termed them unavoidable. He also resigned his position with the police department and voluntarily gave up his POST certification, a move that will prevent him from working with law enforcement in the future. After the three hour hearing grand jurors no billed all the various counts that they possibly could have indicted Belvin on. District Attorney Richard Milam said any case in which a law enforcement officer takes a life should go before a grand jury. “The officer in the case took no warrants so we did not have to present the case but I felt it was the right thing to do, Milam said. “Officer Belvin was very contrite, apologetic and humble.”