The GBI cannot reach a woman shown in a viral video being repeatedly beaten by a DeKalb County police officer, the agency said Wednesday.
That has hampered the GBI’s efforts to investigate the June 4 incident, which was captured on video by a witness and shared on social media earlier this month.
The 1-minute, 39-second video shows Officer P.J. Larscheid using his baton to strike 38-year-old Katie McCrary, who was suspected of solicitation at a Chevron gas station on Glenwood Road, according to a police report.
The clip prompted the department to reopen its investigation and place Larscheid on restricted duty. The GBI was asked to look into the incident, too.
“The request was made following a meeting with DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond, who stressed the importance of a factual, independent investigation based on the new video evidence and other pertinent information,” DeKalb police Chief James Conroy said.
According to the police report, McCrary told Larscheid 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 Larscheid’s badge, the report states.
That’s when Larscheid pulled out his baton, he wrote.
McCrary refused commands so Larscheid 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,” Larscheid 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.
GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said officials have made “several attempts to locate and contact” McCrary without success. She asked the woman to call authorities.
READ: The GBI's statement
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