East Point Sgt Richard Gooddine Gets Life He Smiled At Her Through The Hospital Glass
An East Point police sergeant walked into the emergency room where his 15-year-old victim was getting a forensic exam — in uniform. On September 22, 2026, a judge sentenced him to life in prison plus 20 years.
East Point Police Sergeant Richard Gooddine stopped the girl and her friends for breaking curfew in August 2018. He put her alone in his patrol SUV, drove her to a secluded complex on Stanton Road, and attacked her inside the vehicle. When her mother took her to the hospital for a forensic exam, Gooddine walked into the same emergency room — in uniform. Staff locked the hospital down.
A charge nurse testified he told them “Everything here is my business.” Surveillance caught him wiping his hands as staff tried to make him leave — investigators believed he was destroying evidence. The girl’s DNA was found on the SUV’s turn signal.
She wasn’t the first. Rosa Woodard said Gooddine attacked her after a 2016 arrest — East Point’s internal affairs division ruled her complaint unfounded. Another girl said he began “mentoring” her at 14. Court records show at least five women and girls accused him.
His 2022 trial ended with acquittal on 7 counts and a hung jury on the rest — one juror refused to believe a police officer would commit these acts. At the retrial, a new jury heard from the charge nurse, GBI DNA analysts, and retired Chief Tommy Gardner, who testified Gooddine violated juvenile transport policy by failing to log his mileage.
On September 8, 2026, the jury convicted him on every count that remained. On September 22, Judge Shukura L. Ingram sentenced him to life in prison plus 20 years.
Sources: FOX 5 Atlanta; WSB-TV Channel 2; Georgia Court of Appeals opinion A25A0295, Gooddine v. The State; Atlanta News First.
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