Georgia Police Taser Woman On Her Family’s Property
Police in Georgia have said that they’re investigating a use-of-force incident after a video went viral of a Gwinnett County police officer shocked a woman with a Taser on her family’s property.
The woman on the video has been identified as Kyndesia Smith. She has since been released on bail after her arrest on Thursday night (Aug. 20). The 22-year-old was allegedly knocked into the bushes at her mother’s home from the Taser's shock.
Police claim Smith repeatedly resisted arrest though the video appears to show the officer pushing Smith into the back of his police car when she seems to kick him.
“He should get fired because he needs more training,” Smith’s mother Aytra Thomas told WSB-TV 2 on Thursday night. “Her side where the Taser went at is messed up. Her neck, her back, my shoulder. It ain’t have to go that way. It could have gone a whole other way.”
The incident began on Tuesday evening when Thomas and a neighbor allegedly had a dispute. An officer reportedly responded because the neighbor said someone had thrown a water bottle at her car and threatened her nine-year-old.
“He had seen surveillance from the incident, and that’s how he recognized this woman,” Cpl. Collin Flynn with the Gwinnett County Police Department said.
When the officer went to the house, the department claims Smith wouldn’t let the officer ask questions.
“He then warned her that she would be tased. She continued to resist, and she was tased,” Flynn said.
Thomas, on the other hand, says the officer acted aggressively right away.
“When he came up, he said, ‘Y’all need to shut the f**k up,’” she said.
When asked by WSB-TV 2 whether Thomas knew if her daughter threw anything or made any threats, she said, “No. That’s not true.”
“I didn’t threaten him. She didn’t threaten him. She only told him, ‘I didn’t want to talk.’ That was true. I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t have to talk,” Thomas said.
The officer who arrested Smith is now on administrative leave. His actions are being investigated.
