A woman’s claim that she was racially profiled and wrongly detained by Cumming police has prompted an internal investigation into the officers involved.
The incident stems from a hit-and-run that occurred Friday in the parking lot of Cumming Marketplace, a popular shopping destination in Forsyth County, Cumming police Chief David Marsh said.
According to an incident report, officers were dispatched to the shopping center just before 6 p.m. after receiving a call about the two-car wreck.
The caller said that after the crash, three men carrying duffel bags and backpacks exited their vehicle and ran behind the Massage Envy. Two of the suspects were located and arrested when officers arrived at the scene, according to the report.
About that time, Ashley Harris, who is black, said she returned to her car in the parking lot after shopping at Best Buy and Old Navy.
In a post written on the “Forsyth County Community Views” Facebook page, Harris, who goes by Ashland Nicole online, said when she got to her vehicle, a Cumming police officer approached her and asked if she was involved in the earlier hit-and-run.
“Before I know it, with no explanation, I am placed in handcuffs and forcibly being dragged towards his police SUV,” she wrote. “My car is brand new, not even a week old and has no damage to the car.”
In body camera footage obtained by Channel 2 Action News, a distraught Harris is seen yelling at officers in front of the Old Navy.
“I’m in (expletive) handcuffs and I didn’t do anything,” she shouts.
The officers are also seen speaking with each other.
“Is this not the same description they gave out over the radio?” one officer asks another. The second officer nods his head and replies, “Yep.”
Harris said she told the officers that she was inside the Best Buy for nearly an hour catching up with old coworkers, and asked them to verify her alibi with the store’s employees.
Inside the store, police looked at surveillance video with one of Best Buy’s loss prevention officers.
“What time does it show her coming in?” an officer asks.
The employee tells him that Harris entered the store at 5:03 p.m.
“It appears she was in here long before the accident,” the officer says in the video.
Harris said she was detained for more than half an hour before being released “without an explanation or an apology.”
“I want a discussion to happen,” she told Channel 2. “You just have to be better. You can’t say someone committed a crime (when) they didn’t.”
In a statement, the police chief said an internal investigation into the officers was launched Tuesday after Harris filed a formal complaint with the department alleging her rights were violated.
None of the officers involved in the incident have been placed on leave, Marsh told AJC.com, estimating the internal investigation would take about two weeks.
“Once the investigation is complete and the facts have been determined, I look forward to being able to provide more in-depth information about the incident,” he said, adding he takes the allegations very seriously.
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