An Oakwood police officer is on paid administrative leave while the department investigates if he used excessive force while trying to arrest a woman last month.
Annie Lloyd, who called police to a Hall County tattoo parlor Sept. 24 to report a theft and assault, was admittedly intoxicated when Officer Timothy Holbrook attempted to arrest her, but she said that was no reason for him to slam her to the ground, briefly knocking her unconscious.
Body camera footage obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows officers ask Lloyd to “wake up” as she lies prone on the pavement following the lengthy encounter outside Phenom Ink on McEver Road.
Lloyd submitted a complaint to police Oct. 7, prompting the internal investigation. While Oakwood police Chief Tim Hatch said he cannot comment on the amount of force used, he acknowledged the woman was visibly hurt by the officer.
“He did pick her up and he put her on the ground pretty forcefully and she was knocked unconscious,” Hatch told the AJC. “She had some obvious visible injuries because as soon as they got her in handcuffs they called for a medic unit to come.”
Lloyd, who suffered injuries to her shoulder blade, hip, back, arm and face, said she has relied on the body camera video to fill in the gaps of what happened that night after she fell unconscious.
Credit: Annie Lloyd
Credit: Annie Lloyd
When police arrived, Lloyd tried to explain that she had been assaulted and became upset when officers refused to speak with her, the footage shows. The officers were speaking first with Lloyd’s friend, who Hatch said rode with her to the tattoo shop.
“I tried to take the keys from (Lloyd) because you see she’s drunk,” the friend told an officer. “I took the keys and she got aggressive, starting screaming and hollering and snatched on me. I defended myself.”
Lloyd’s story is a different one. She told the AJC that her friend took her car keys in an attempt to leave the tattoo shop after Lloyd refused to drive her. She said she never intended to drive that night.
“I told her to call an Uber, told her that several times, and then she proceeded to slap me on the left side of my face,” she said by phone Thursday.
The altercation prompted Lloyd to call 911. Body camera footage shows that Lloyd told the officer that her friend hit her, but she said she didn’t want to press charges.
Holbrook then began threatening to arrest Lloyd after she didn’t follow his directions, the footage shows. He spent four minutes repeatedly telling Lloyd to sit next to a patrol car.
”You can go sit over there or I’m going to take you to jail for obstruction.” Holbrook said. “Do you want to go to jail or do you want to go home tonight?”
After about five minutes of arguing with Lloyd to call an Uber, Holbrook went to handcuff her and took her to the ground, according to the footage. Lloyd is facing charges of obstruction of law enforcement officer and public intoxication.
According to the police chief, the arrest and use of force were warranted. It’s the amount of force that Holbrook used that is under investigation.
“The initial threat when we got there wasn’t as significant, but what happened is she started resisting ... and then even trying to get away because she does turn around and pull away and try to run away before the officer took her to the ground,” Hatch said.
Lloyd said she did not try to resist, but instead stumbled when Holbrook reached for her.
“I did stumble and they’re trying to say that I tried to resist, but I didn’t even know that I was under arrest,” Lloyd said. “At that point, it’s just a man grabbing me aggressively.”
With $11,000 of medical bills, Lloyd said she expects to be in and out of clinics for a while.
“As soon as I got knocked out, it’s like my whole memory went blank,” Lloyd said. “My cheek still has a huge knot on it. ... I’m going to be having to see doctors after this for probably a long time.”
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