Man shot by Peach deputy pleads not guilty to assaulting officer

A man accused of aggravated assault on a Peach County deputy in an officer-involved shooting has pleaded not guilty.

Lonnie Shaw, 45, of Peach County, waived his arraignment before a judge and entered a written not guilty plea late Tuesday afternoon.

His Atlanta attorney, Torris Jerrel Butterfield, declined comment on the facts of the case.

“It’s too early for me to discuss it,” Butterfield said Wednesday. “At this point, I have not yet received discovery.

“Once I am more familiar with the case, I talk to the GBI and everything else, I may be in a position to do that,” he said.

Following the GBI investigation of the shooting, Shaw was indicted and District Attorney David Cooke announced that no charges were warranted against Deputy Brandon Williams.

About 3 a.m. May 31, Williams and Deputy James Perry knocked at the Shaw residence at 50 West Valley Drive off Ga. 96. Shaw’s stepson had shown up an hour earlier at the Medical Center of Peach County, Navicent Health, with a gunshot wound to the leg.

When Shaw opened the door, Williams started to ask him about his stepson, but before he could do so, Shaw brandished a handgun, and pointed it at Williams, according to authorities.

“When Deputy Williams perceived that Mr. Shaw was pointing the handgun at him, he reasonably believed that his own life was in danger and fired off one round from his service weapon, wounding Mr. Shaw,” Cooke said in written statement.

But Dawn Shaw, who was standing next to her husband when he was shot, has said that her husband never raised his gun and never pointed it at the deputy.

“This has like ripped his dignity away,” Shaw said of her husband, “because he knows for a fact that he did not raise his gun to no police officer and I know for a fact, too.

“I mean it’s just not right,” she said.

Lonnie Shaw was wounded in the upper torso. His liver, kidney and bladder were damaged, his wife said.

He is free on a $20,000 property bond pending trial.

This story was originally published October 12, 2016 at 11:42 AM with the headline "Man shot by Peach deputy pleads not guilty to assaulting officer."