Corporal James Marion Tarver, Sr.

James Marion Tarver, Sr.

Corporal Jim Tarver was struck and killed by a vehicle as he and a George State Patrol trooper and a Spaulding County Administrator investigated an earlier accident on State Route 93, four miles west of Griffin, at about 7:10 pm.

They were measuring skid marks on the northern side of a hill crest when an 18-year-old man driving a small pickup truck northbound on Highway 92 came over the hill and, not being able to see the officers in time, first struck the administrator who died on the scene, and then struck Corporal Tarver. Corporal Tarver died en route to the hospital.

The driver was not charged due to what was decided by the officers' negligence for not warning oncoming drivers of their presence in the roadway.

Corporal Tarver was a U.S. Army veteran and had served with the Spalding County Sheriff's Office and previously served with the Clayton County Sheriff's Office and Morrow Police Department. for 17 years. He was survived by three sons.