The Atlanta Police Department has placed a sergeant and another officer on unpaid leave after a video surfaced on social media showing the sergeant kicking a handcuffed woman in her head while the officer did nothing to intervene.
The officers were responding to reports of an armed person in the Peoplestown neighborhood of Atlanta. According to the caller, a woman was walking in the area and had pointed a gun at several people.
The video, which was shared on the Atlanta Uncensored Instagram page, shows a woman lying on her stomach on the ground, in handcuffs with the sergeant and the officer standing over her. The woman appears to spit in the sergeant's direction, prompting the cop to kick the side of her face.
Once the officers detained the woman, they "became concerned with the female's mental health and requested Grady EMS transport her to the hospital for evaluation," the department said. Watch the video below:
APD Slams Sergeant's Actions, Lack of Reaction from Fellow Officer
The identities of the sergeant and the other officer have not been released but on Monday, the department said in its press release that both cops had been suspended from duty. The department said Chief Rodney Bryant and other APD officials learned about the video on Monday and immediately ordered the suspension of the officers involved.
"Upon reviewing the video, the actions of the sergeant appear to be unacceptable and we are also concerned with the apparent lack of reaction from another officer present during the incident," a statement from the APD reads in part. "The decision was made to immediately relieve the sergeant and the officer from duty and place the sergeant on unpaid suspension."
The statement also said the actions of the two officers "appeared to fall outside our standards and training" and that the agency's Office of Professional Standards will open an investigation.
This is not the first time the Atlanta Police Department has come under dire. Earlier this year, the department sparked backlash after a handful of fired officers, including two charged with murder in the death of Rayshard Brooks were reinstated by the Atlanta Civil Service Board after a review of their case determined the department did not afford them their due process.
