Standoff causes temporary I-85 north shutdown

Saturday evening, around 6:11 p.m., Troup County sheriff’s deputies were called to Interstate 85 near the Hamilton Road exit about a possible domestic dispute.

Authorities later learned that a male had run from a truck on the interstate into the woods. A female caller reported later hearing what sounded like a gunshot.

Deputies arrived they located the truck on the side of the highway and a female standing outside the vehicle.

According to TCSO, the female stated that her husband, Calvin Copeland, became upset in the truck and made threats to harm himself with a handgun while she was driving, so she pulled over. He then left the truck and a few minutes later she heard a gunshot.

Copeland later returned from the woods and sat in the truck until deputies arrived.

Interstate 85 Northbound was temporarily shut down while law enforcement personnel from the Troup County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia State Patrol and LaGrange Police Department attempted to talk Copeland out of his truck.

TCSO said that verbal communication was unsuccessful, so they made the decision to deploy LPD pepper ball projectiles into the truck at which point Copeland exited the truck and was taken into custody.

Copeland was taken to the Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center for evaluation and later to the Troup County Jail and where he was charged with Obstruction of an Officer and Reckless Conduct.

Deputies confirmed that Copeland had been armed at the time of the incident and a firearm was recovered from the truck.

According to TCSO Public Information Officer Sgt. Stewart Smith, Copeland and his wife had gotten into a verbal domestic dispute inside the truck but nothing that rose to the level of criminal domestic violence.

No further information has been provided at this time.

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