Investigators followed a vehicle, reviewed video and arrested Destinee Riggins hours after a Walmart theft report developed into a wider police search.
COVINGTON, Ga. — Surveillance footage showing where a fleeing driver’s vehicle was later retrieved helped police track down a woman accused of dragging a Covington officer during a traffic stop, adding an evidence trail beyond the body-camera recording that documented the violent escape itself, according to police accounts and local reporting.
The search for Destinee Riggins unfolded after authorities said she left a QuikTrip on Highway 142 with an officer still at the driver’s-side window of her vehicle. The officer had stopped the car after Covington police received a shoplifting call from a nearby Walmart. Police said Riggins eventually left the car after getting away from the gas station. Investigators then began working backward and forward through the vehicle’s movements, combining the identification from the stop with surveillance footage and information gathered after other people came into contact with the abandoned car.
The investigation had started as a comparatively narrow retail-theft response. Officers were sent to the Walmart on Industrial Drive at about 4:30 p.m. Aug. 14 after a report that a shopper had taken merchandise. Police said the suspected shoplifter was already gone when they arrived. An officer soon saw the vehicle believed to be connected to the incident pulling into a QuikTrip across the road, allowing him to initiate a stop before the vehicle had traveled far from the store.
During the stop, the officer obtained the driver’s license and stood at the open window. Later-released body-camera footage records him directing the driver to put the vehicle in park. Riggins replies that it is already in park. The car then begins to move. Detective Daniel Seals said the officer had already reached into the vehicle in an effort to prevent the driver from leaving. The footage and police accounts show that instead of ending the encounter, the attempted stop became the event that caused the officer’s injuries and launched the subsequent search.
Police said the car carried the officer more than 100 yards before he fell away from it, although early reports gave varying estimates and some described a distance of several hundred yards. Witness Andrew Phillips told Atlanta News First that he saw the officer taken around the QuikTrip property with the vehicle. The discrepancy in distance is one of the minor differences among early reports, but the accounts consistently describe a substantial movement of the car with the officer still attached to or hanging from the driver’s side.
The officer was hurt but remained able to communicate with other police. Seals said he was in pain and breathing hard when he hit the ground, yet he immediately radioed information about the fleeing vehicle. WSB-TV reported that people nearby approached to help and that the officer was still holding Riggins’ driver’s license. That detail was important to the investigation because police were no longer searching only for an unknown vehicle linked to a store complaint; they had identifying information from the driver moments before the escape.
After leaving the QuikTrip, police said Riggins abandoned the car. Atlanta News First reported that some family members later picked up the vehicle and were stopped by officers. Investigators were not only interested in recovering the car but also in establishing who had moved it, where it had been collected and whether anyone involved knew police were searching for Riggins. Authorities had not filed charges against those relatives at the time of the report and said they were still trying to determine whether anyone had knowingly helped her avoid arrest.
Surveillance footage became a link between the abandoned vehicle and the eventual arrest. Police reviewed video from the area where the car had been picked up and used that information as part of their effort to locate Riggins. Officers ultimately found her at a Covington apartment complex later that evening. Early coverage identified the location as an apartment complex on Highway 36, while another report placed the arrest at about 8:30 p.m. The sources reviewed do not describe a second violent confrontation when Riggins was taken into custody.
The evidence picture expanded further when investigators said a stolen handgun had been present during the traffic-stop encounter. WSB-TV reported that police said Riggins had a stolen handgun in a bag at the time. Publicly available reports do not provide the full chain of custody for the weapon, specify all forensic testing or explain in detail how investigators concluded it was stolen. They also do not say the gun was displayed to the officer during the stop. Its reported presence nevertheless added a separate investigative issue to a case that had begun with an allegation of shoplifting.
The criminal allegations also broadened. Initial reports immediately after the arrest said Riggins faced shoplifting, fleeing or attempting to elude and aggravated assault on a police officer. By the following days, Atlanta News First reported charges that included aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer, armed robbery and theft by shoplifting. Law&Crime later reported that she also faced a firearm-related offense concerning possession of a firearm or knife during an attempted felony. Those charges are allegations and do not establish that Riggins committed the offenses.
The officer’s medical treatment proceeded separately from the evidence search. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in stable condition after suffering scrapes, bruises and impact injuries. Early reports said he was released and recovering at home. Atlanta News First later reported that he had recovered and was back on duty. His name has not been released in the reports reviewed. Witness Taylor Bowman told the station that seeing the officer placed on a gurney was frightening, though the witness could not say with certainty what injury the officer may have suffered to his head.
The body-camera video later strengthened the chronology that police had initially described through statements. It records the conversation at the driver’s window, including the instruction to put the vehicle in park, and captures the sudden change in the encounter when the car begins moving. The officer’s fall and immediate response also correspond with police descriptions given before the footage was widely aired. Video does not independently answer what happened inside the Walmart or establish every element of the subsequent charges, but it provides direct documentation of the traffic-stop portion of the investigation.
Several elements remained unresolved in the public reporting. Police had not explained the full factual basis for the armed robbery allegation, released a detailed account of the items said to have been taken from Walmart or announced whether relatives who handled the car would face charges. WSB-TV reported on Aug. 18 that investigators believed there could be additional charges and arrests. The sources reviewed for this story did not reveal a subsequent public announcement showing that those possibilities had resulted in further arrests.
The investigation therefore developed through several different forms of evidence: the original store report, the officer’s direct encounter with the driver, his possession of the driver’s license, body-camera video, witness accounts, the abandoned car, surveillance footage and the reported stolen handgun. Each piece addressed a different stage of an incident that moved from a retailer to a gas station and then into a broader search across the area. Police used that chain to locate Riggins within hours, while questions surrounding the criminal allegations were left for the court process.
As of the latest reporting reviewed, the officer had recovered and returned to duty. Riggins had been arrested and accused of multiple offenses, with WSB-TV reporting Aug. 18 that she remained jailed at that time. No later court disposition was identified in the reviewed sources. The unresolved legal allegations, possible additional investigative steps and any final decisions on charges would depend on subsequent court records or official announcements.
Author note: Last updated September 28, 2026.