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**sighs**
**Video of the incident has been provided above** Last Monday, the DeKalb County police department has reopened an internal investigation after video of an officer beating a homeless woman has been brought to light. "Now that the Department has this new evidence we have reopened the investigation and will determine whether the incident is consistent with policy and the law."--DeKalb County Police Department statement The incident took place @ a gas station in Decatur on June 4th after an officer, who hasn't been publicly identified, responded to a call about a woman begging for money from customers. The woman has been identified as Katie McCrary and from the video it's not clear as to what led to the situation, however according to a Use of Force report filed by the unidentified officer, McCrary attempted to push him out the way and make her way out the store. After the officer prevented her from leaving, she tried to walk past him again, and told him she was a federal agent. **Clearly, that's a sign of mental illness** The 2 exchanged words, McCrary attempted to grab his badge, the officer told her to not touch him, McCrary then grabbed his vest and his radio, and then the officer used his baton on her legs, forearms, as well as on the side of her head because she was "moving around." **Of course none of this can be seen on the video!** On the video, an unknown male in the store can be heard yelling, "Hey, Katie, Stop resisting!" "Stop resisiting."
Also according to the Use of Force report that he filed, he took McCrary to DeKalb County Jail, but she was refused and taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for further evaluation. As a result of the beating, she suffered a half inch cut on her shin and welt on her forearm. McCrary was ultimately charged with obstructing or hindering law enforcement officers and was also given a criminal trespass warning @ the request of the convenience store manager. Brief thought: Clearly, Katie McCrary suffers from some sort of mental illness and wasn't in her right frame of mind. So, knowing this, I don't understand why it had to get to the level that it got to. I don't understand why she's being beaten, instead of restraining her by tasing her, so he could handcuff her and then take her to get some mental help. I just do not understand! I don't understand how holding a baton to the back of her neck and holding her down with your knee is effective @ deescalating the situation, if anything, human nature, fight or flight kicks in, and a person's instincts tells them to protect themselves! Duh! That's psychology 101 right there! I hope he's charged with excessive force because this was just taking is beyond too far and I hope he loses his job because that's what he deserves. This is prime example of why body cameras should be required on all police officers no matter if you're working in a big city or a small town and it should be a crime for these officers to tamper with their body cameras or have them turned off. Had a body camera been on this officer, wouldn't have taken a month for this footage to be released or discovered.
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