A DeKalb County magistrate judge’s on-camera altercation with a YouTuber filming inside the county’s central tag office is under investigation by county and state authorities.

Shannon McNeal, an attorney and part-time magistrate judge, was filmed by YouTuber Russell Pickron inside the public service area of the tag office on Memorial Drive in Decatur on Nov. 6. In a video Pickron uploaded to YouTube, McNeal says her privacy rights are “better” than Pickron’s and that he doesn’t have permission to film her.

The video shows Pickron following McNeal inside the tag office while filming. He then calls her “straight garbage” and “just horrible” as she starts to exit. That prompts a lengthy exchange in which McNeal appears to start filming Pickron on her phone.

“If you’re going to film me, I’m going to film you,” McNeal says to Pickron in the video. “And I’m going to film you all the way outside and film your tag number. And then I’m going to look up your tag number and I’m going to go to your house. And I’m going to camp right outside your house.”

McNeal also says in the video that she will “find out” who Pickron is, after he refuses to tell her his name. She tells Pickron that he offended her and created a public disturbance, and asks if his job is harassing citizens.

“I can’t wait to go outside and see what car y’all are in,” McNeal says in the video. “I’m going to find out who you are. I’m going to go to your house. I’m going to picnic on the street in front of your house. I’m going to invite everybody over.”

McNeal did not respond to phone and email messages. She is “not currently hearing or adjudicating court matters” while the incident is reviewed by DeKalb’s chief magistrate judge, a county spokesperson said Monday.

The incident is also being investigated by the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission, to which Pickron and some of his YouTube channel subscribers complained about McNeal’s behavior. The state agency could charge McNeal with violating the Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct and recommend to the Georgia Supreme Court that she be punished.

Pickron, who lives in Troup County, said he was filming inside the DeKalb tag office with fellow YouTuber Lana Patrick, of Florida, to document how government employees treat customers. Pickron’s “Georgia Transparency” YouTube channel has 37,000 subscribers.

YouTuber Lana Patrick (left) and DeKalb County Magistrate Judge Shannon McNeal film each other inside the county's central tag office.

Credit: Courtesy Russell Pickron

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Credit: Courtesy Russell Pickron

“My thing was to go in there and document my government for the best interest of the public and to see where the tax money’s going,” Pickron told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Pickron said he was angry that McNeal had said her rights were better than his.

“I was redressing my government,” he said. “I’ve called a lot of other government officials garbage. I stay professional and I stay polite until that line is crossed.”

Pickron told the AJC that McNeal’s comments about looking up his vehicle registration and visiting his home were “scary,” given her role as a judge.

“There’s no reason she should be acting like that,” he said. “That kind of freaked me out.”

The video shows McNeal and Pickron exiting the tag office to speak with DeKalb law enforcement officers called to resolve the altercation. As Pickron stands outside the tag office speaking with a sheriff’s deputy, he films McNeal walking across the parking lot to a vehicle and driving away. He doesn’t follow her or record her vehicle registration.

Pickron said he and Patrick, whose YouTube channel “The J-Town Press” has 113,000 subscribers, were not arrested.

Patrick did not respond to an inquiry about the incident.

Pickron said he called the DeKalb County Magistrate Court to complain about McNeal and was told the incident was under investigation.

“Any investigation of this incident or related personnel action would be handled by the appropriate judicial authorities,” a county spokesperson told the AJC.