New details emerge in crash that killed Bibb deputy

Before a police chase turned deadly earlier this month, the 24-year-old man accused of crashing into a Bibb County sheriff’s car and killing a deputy reportedly offered to help a pair of undercover officers.

Martavius Taquan Kinder, also known as “Tadpole,” faces felony murder, vehicular homicide and reckless driving charges in the fatal crash that killed Bibb County sheriff’s Deputy Anthony “T.J.” Freeman on May 5. Kinder appeared in Bibb Magistrate Court on Friday for a probable cause hearing.

Brandon Stone of the Georgia State Patrol said Kinder was fleeing from deputies in a 1997 Toyota Camry when he ran a stop sign in Macon’s Unionville neighborhood, plowing into Freeman’s 2008 Dodge Magnum. The 3 a.m. collision took place at the intersection of Columbus Road and Buena Vista Drive.

Kinder suffered minor injuries and has since been held at the Monroe County jail. Stone said he interviewed Kinder later that day.

“Mr. Kinder stated that he was attempting to elude officers due to the fact that he had warrants and that he did not have a driver’s license and he knew he had a (marijuana) joint in the vehicle,” Stone said.

Franklin J. Hogue, a Macon attorney representing Kinder, asked Stone how Kinder first encountered the deputies.

Stone said two officers on an apparent stakeout were parked on the side of an unspecified road in an unmarked Nissan Altima with its emergency flashers on, watching a storefront they expected to be burglarized.

“Mr. Kinder stopped his vehicle in front of the vehicle that the officers were in and acted suspiciously,” Stone testified. “They actually ... talked. Mr. Kinder got in his vehicle, left the scene. The officers then followed Mr. Kinder and got a marked unit ... to try to stop Mr. Kinder to try and talk to him and see what was going on.”

Hogue asked what Kinder said to the officers in the unmarked car.

“Mr. Kinder approached the undercover car and asked if they were broke down,” Stone said, later adding that the officers told him nothing was wrong and that he could leave. “The officers felt that, as Mr. Kinder went back to his vehicle, he sat down in his vehicle and got back out. At that point, they felt that was kind of suspicious so that’s when they intended to stop him.”

“Did you ask the officers what was suspicious about that?” Hogue asked.

“One of the officers,” Stone replied, “actually stated that when (Kinder) got out of the vehicle, he was holding his waistband, and (the officer) was unfamiliar if it was a weapon or not. Officers actually attempted to pull their vehicle out of the way. ... The way I understood it was it was possibly just to get some type of cover if the subject was to get out a weapon.”

Stone said the officers, dressed in civilian clothing and driving an unmarked car, followed Kinder after he left the area and waited on a vehicle with blue lights and sirens to stop him. Stone said Kinder didn’t speed away when the unmarked car followed.

“At that point, a marked vehicle with blue lights and sirens got behind Mr. Kinder ... to attempt to stop Mr. Kinder,” Stone said.

At that point, Kinder fled.

There was no video surveillance of the crash from any of the cars involved.

After the hearing, Hogue said he was still unclear why the officers found Kinder’s behavior suspicious.

“He didn’t intentionally kill anybody, (and) I don’t think anybody thinks he did,” Hogue said. “But when you’re running from the police and you crash and someone gets killed, a police officer in particular, it makes a case like this.”

The crash is still being investigated.

This story was originally published May 20, 2016 at 4:07 PM with the headline "New details emerge in crash that killed Bibb deputy."