DeKalb County police face investigation after viral video shows - CBS46 News

An internal investigation of the DeKalb County Police Department, initiated by a use of force complaint from an arrest in June, has been reopened after a bystander's video recording of the incident went viral on social media.

At the Chevron on Glenwood Road and Line Street in Decatur, customers were all revved up. Cell phone video shows a DeKalb County police officer beating a homeless woman with a baton inside the store.

“Just to see what you showed me, that makes my heart hurt,” customer Tasha Marignay said.

“From the beginning of the video she looks like she was under terror,” customer Craig Nelson said.

It happened on June 4 and for some it was difficult to watch the officer’s use of force.

“Like one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, that’s excessive,” customer Calvin Smith said.

The incident report said Katie McCrary was questioned by police after begging customers for money at the store, and that’s when she allegedly pushed the responding officer at the scene. 

“She’s not mentally there,” Nelson said.

Craig Nelson knows McCrary and said she’s always at the store asking for money, but in no way deserved to be treated this way.

“You can see that she wasn’t even resisting arrest. She was probably resisting the last few swings that weren’t caught on camera,” Nelson said.

CBS46 spoke with about a dozen different customers who knew McCrary and only one said she’s a problem. DeKalb County police have now reopened an investigation into the incident.

“He’s just steady hitting her, that’s excessive, that’s excessive,” Smith said.

McCrary is currently in jail for an unrelated prostitution charge. Still, most customers around here feel the officer is the one that was out of line.

“I think something should be done about that officer, he should be dealt with,” Marignay said.

CBS46 asked police if they reviewed surveillance video from the store to see what led up to the use of force, and they said the store did not have the video.

Here is the department's summary of the incident:

Upon the officer’s arrival, the female, identified as Katie McCrary, attempted to push the officer out of the way. The officer stopped her at the door and asked her to step back. Words were exchanged between the officer and McCrary with McCrary subsequently assaulting the officer. She continued to aggressively resist the officer’s commands, resulting in the deployment of the officer’s baton.

The officer was eventually able to restrain and handcuff McCrary. EMS responded to the scene to check McCrary. She was transported to the DeKalb County Jail and later to Grady Hospital.  The officer filed a Use of Force Report on the incident.

The Department said it not aware of the cell phone video that the bystander recorded.

"Now that the Department has this new [video] evidence," the police department said,  "We have reopened the investigation and will determine whether the incident is consistent with policy and the law."

McCrary was charged with obstructing or hindering law enforcement officers. She was also served a criminal trespass warning at the request of the convenience store manager.

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