An April 28 incident involving a Metro Nashville police officer and a suspect he was attempting to apprehend in a garage adjacent to the Vanderbilt campus involved no one affiliated with Vanderbilt. The incident was confined to the garage of the 2525 West End office building and ended quickly with the suspect being taken into custody. Vanderbilt police responded to assist the Metro police in containing the scene.
The incident occurred about 2:30 p.m. when Metro Officer Chad Barth was attempting to apprehend a suspect for credit card fraud on the third floor of the garage. The suspect, Michael J. Smith, 52, of Lafayette, trapped the officer in the suspect’s open car door, put the car in reverse and knocked him forcefully to the ground. Barth fired on and wounded the suspect after repeatedly telling him to stop the 2009 Honda Civic, according to Metro police. Officer Barth then radioed for assistance and rendered aid to Smith.
Both the officer and the suspect were taken to Vanderbilt Hospital. The suspect was in critical condition. The officer was in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Metro police.
The building and garage are owned and operated by The Lionstone Group of Houston. The Lionstone Group leases the land from Vanderbilt.
Contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu