The Athens-Clarke County Police is investigating after video surfaced of an officer subduing a 10-year old child. The department released the body cam video of the office on the scene.
The incident happened Friday shortly after 6 pm when officers responded to the scene of a domestic dispute. Public Information Officer Epifanio Rodriguez held a press conference this afternoon regarding the incident.
“This young male lunged, taking off his feet toward the officer, Rodriguez said. “When he lunged at our officer, our officer was able to grab him. It was the momentum from the officer grabbing him that threw the both of them into the patrol car. As they were thrown into o the patrol car, the 10-year old began to kick and scream towards our officer and actually started walking up the side of the patrol car, and it was at that time the officer placed him on the ground."
Rodríguez said the officer was attempted to calm the child while three adults on the scene began to approach him.
“As it continued the officer began speaking to the young man and telling the young man that if he were going to comply, he was not going to be arrested, nothing was going to happen to him, he just needed to calm down. The young man did begin to apologize and tell the officer he was going to calm down and once the officer believed he was calm, (he) allowed him to get back on his feet.”
The police arrested child’s father. He is charged with aggravated assault strangulation, and false imprisonment.
The officers involved have not been placed on administrative leave, but the incident is under investigation by the department’s internal affairs division.
Video link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mu1qhb2vnaopswl/ACCPD_072018_Incident_Blur.mov?dl=0.
