Rotational distributions of CO molecules excited by collisions with O(D-1) atoms (average relative translational energy 8 kcal/mol) were measured by probing the product CO(v = 0-3) with vacuum ultraviolet laser-induced fluorescence. The inelastic collisions are of two types. The adiabatic collisions involve motion on the first excited singlet surface of the CO2 system, whereas the nonadiabatic collisions begin on this singlet surface but end on the lowest triplet surface before dissociating to O(P-3) and CO. The measured rotational distributions for CO(v = 2 and 3) which can only come from the nonadiabatic collisions agree with the results of a trajectory calculation performed on the ab initio lowest tripler potential energy surface of CO2. However, the rotational distributions measured for CO(v = 0 and 1) show a significant difference from the trajectory calculation. The reason is that excitation of the v = 0 and 1 levels can be accomplished by either adiabatic (singlet surface) or nonadiabatic (triplet surface) collisions. Vibrational distributions of CO(v 1-6) excited by collision with thermal O(D-1) atoms were also measured and compared with the trajectory calculation.