A Georgia police officer has been fired after a video was widely shared on social media showing him using a taser on a woman during an arrest outside a house in Loganville. The Gwinnett County Police Department fired Officer Michael Oxford after an investigation found he “violated our policies and did not meet our core values,” the agency said in a statement online.
The officer responded after a 911 call was made on Tuesday regarding damage to property. A woman had reported that two people threw a bottle at her car, and that the group had threatened to attack her and hit her 9-year-old child, according to the police statement.
The caller directed Oxford to a house where she believed the persons remained. When the officer arrived at that residence, he recognized one of the women on probation from video surveillance of the bottle that was thrown, authorities said.
When Oxford tried to talk to one woman, another started yelling at him. “You are on our property,” Kyndesia Smith was seen telling him in the video. “We did not call you. I’m not going anywhere.”
Oxford cried back, telling Smith he would arrest her if she did not do his job, the statement said. After several warnings, he told her she was under arrest.
The video, which was widely shared on TikTok, shows Oxford trying to reach for his handcuffs to put them on Smith. They opposed the officer’s commands, and asked Oxford to use his Taser on them, police said.
Smith is seen in the video falling into bushes in front of the house as Oxford tries to captivate her. Video of police bodycam shows a fight going on between the two and a second officer who arrived to help secure handcuffs on Smith. That same video showed Smith being shoved into the back seat of a police car as she drove towards Oxford before the door closed.
Oxford was initially placed on administrative leave. But the department said Friday that although it found Oxford justified in arresting Smith and that his use of force was within policy, his conduct and behavior was unacceptable.
“We strive to conduct ourselves in a way that promotes mutual respect with the community and our peers,” the department said. “The investigation into this case has shown that Officer Oxford violated our policies and did not meet our core values.”
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