Columbus police officer arrested after hit-and-run crash

A Columbus police officer has been arrested for falsely reporting an abandoned car as stolen after an accident, authorities said Friday.

Nicole Reeves, 27, has been arrested on charges of falsely reporting a crime, making false statements, failing to report an accident, and violating her oath as a police officer, investigators said.

Police said a 911 call at 12:12 a.m. Aug. 9 reported an abandoned and wrecked vehicle that Reeves was known to drive.

Investigators determined the car found on Schatulga Road had been involved in a hit-and-run accident, and the driver had left the scene. Reeves then called at 12:33 a.m. to report it stolen, they said.

Detectives with the department’s property crimes division found that Reeves had been driving the vehicle at the time of the crash and left without reporting the accident, officers said.

Reeves now is on administrative leave without pay. She’s to have an initial appearance in Columbus Recorder’s Court at 8 a.m. Saturday, but the hearing’s to be rescheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Tim Chitwood

Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

706-571-8508

Tim Chitwood is from Seale, Alabama, and started as a police beat reporter with the Ledger-Enquirer in 1982. He since has covered Columbus’ serial killings and other homicides, following some from the scene of the crime to trial verdicts and ensuing appeals. He also has been a Ledger-Enquirer humor columnist since 1987. He’s a graduate of Auburn University, and started out working for the weekly Phenix Citizen in Phenix City, Ala.