For all our fears of being watched and survieled by "the powers that be", aren't we more watched these days by our own fellow citizens?The four women who were part of a scuffle with an off-duty Atlanta police officer had barely sat down at a table at the Buckhead IHOP when the confrontation started, one of them said.
“It was just four girls, just a regular night out, going to get something to eat,” Cynthia Freeman said.
Freeman said she noticed two guys dressed in costumes from Star Wars.
“Wow, they got the helmet … they’ve got everything, what are you guys doing?” Freeman said she asked early that morning.
Minutes later, she said a man in a blue shirt came over to their table.
“He tells me, shut up, be quiet, you need to leave,” an emotional Freeman said.
The incident was captured on video, the Atlanta Police Department confirmed. The video also shows the officer punching another woman. Freeman said she didn’t know that woman -- Ashley Leavell -- she had been dining at another table.
“She was trying to get the officer to back off,” Freeman said.
Freeman was among four arrested in the 4 a.m. Saturday incident, according to Atlanta attorney Bobby Aniekwu. He told the AJC he is representing three of the women in what he considers a case of "excessive force."
Cynthia Freeman is one of Aniekwu's clients. He said she is charged with obstruction of justice, criminal trespass and simple battery.
Leavell was charged with obstruction, public drunkeness and simple battery.
Freeman spoke to the AJC Wednesday at Aniekwu's office in downtown Atlanta. She said she did not realize the man who approached her table was a police officer.
“When we walked in, I didn’t pay anybody no attention. I just sat down,” she said.
“I looked at his face, I didn’t look at what he had on or anything because everything happened so fast,” Freeman said. “I didn’t know what he was until he pulled out those cuffs.” Freeman said the officer pulled on her hair to the point that some of it came out.
Her friend, Roberta Caban, said the officer never identified himself before the incident.
It is not yet known if the women will sue.
Aniekwu said he has to review a copy of the police report, which he hasn’t yet received.
“As I sit here today, there's a great likelihood we will start some litigation,” he said.
Can anybody get into a ruck these days without someone pulling a camera or video recorder, normally in a phone, on the incident?
