Myers on fourth month of paid leave as D.A. consults with expert

District Attorney Joe Mulholland is consulting with a law enforcement expert to help him determine how to handle the case involving Izaiah Goar who died while Cairo Police were attempting to bring him into custody earlier this year.
Cairo Police Investigator Johnny Myers has been on paid leave for four months since the May 13 incident and subsequent investigation.
Mulholland said this week he is consulting with Roy Bedard, an expert in law enforcement use of force cases and a sworn police officer for over 25 years.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation conducted the initial probe into the case but was delayed by the state crime lab, which took more than two months to complete an autopsy on Goar. That autopsy revealed the cause of death was blunt force trauma due to injuries received in an automobile accident. The GBI then organized its information and transferred it to Mulholland in late August so he could determine whether anyone should be prosecuted in the case.
Investigator Myers was driving the car that struck and killed Goar, 24, the morning of May 13. He and other police were trying to bring Goar into custody. Witnesses said Goar was walking around his neighborhood near 11th Avenue NE openly armed with a large butcher knife and threatening to kill people. He was still armed with the knife and walking sporadically, refusing to obey police orders as they tried to take him into custody, according to police.
Police say Myers used his car to block Goar’s path as he charged towards another officer, but instead the police car struck and killed Goar.
Mulholland has used Bedard, whom he describes as nationally recognized, in other cases involving officers in the South Georgia Judicial Circuit.
“He is reviewing it and once I meet with him I plan on making a decision hopefully by the end of October at the latest,” Mulholland says.