Video shows officer repeatedly striking woman with baton, investigation launched

Credit: Tetra Images

Credit: Tetra Images

Police in DeKalb County, Georgia, say they are investigating an officer’s use of force in a June 4 arrest after video shot by a witness surfaced on social media.

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The 1-minute and 39-second video shows the officer using his baton to gain control of 38-year-old Katie McCrary, who was suspected of solicitation at a Chevron gas station on Glenwood Road, according to a police report.

Warning: Video contains graphic content that may be disturbing to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

DeKalb police spokeswoman Officer Shiera Campbell released a statement to the media saying the department was not aware of the video’s existence until this weekend.

The police report referencing the incident states McCrary told the officer she was a federal agent and gave a “random badge number” as she tried to walk past him.

After the cop warned McCrary that she could be charged with impersonating an officer, she tried to grab his badge, the report states.

The officer, whose name was redacted from the police report, wrote that he then pulled out his baton.

McCrary refused commands, so he struck her “an unknown amount of baton strikes to her left leg,” according to the report.

At that point, McCrary dropped to the ground and began kicking the officer, the report states.

“I continued my baton strikes to her legs and forearms instructing her to stop resisting and to lay down with her hands behind her back,” the officer wrote. “One strike inadvertently struck the side of her head as she was moving around.”

The report states that paramedics responded to evaluate McCrary and she was served a criminal trespass citation and taken to Grady Memorial Hospital and released.

"The incident was investigated by his supervisor, as well as internal affairs,” Campbell said in the statement. “The narrative in the officer’s report appears to be consistent with the video.”

She said the officer was cleared following that investigation.

“Now that the department has this new evidence,” she said, “we are looking to determine whether the incident is consistent with policy and the law.”

McCrary was in jail Monday after being arrested Friday on a prostitution charge.

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