DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson says she is undertaking a full investigation into how police responded to a protest on Saturday.
Hundreds of protesters flocked to Chamblee Tucker Road and began marching on the busy road. After demonstrators refused to follow police’s orders back onto the sidewalk, officers deployed tear gas and arrested at least eight people.
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Cochran-Johnson reaffirmed the county’s commitment to peaceful protest in an email to Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes on Tuesday.
She says that’s why she is reviewing police reports, body camera footage and other video.
The CEO told Fernandes she would not be answering questions about the review until after it is complete.
Addison Clapp says her only goal on Saturday was to peacefully protest, but instead she was left bruised after being struck by a tear gas canister.
“This was a peaceful demonstration that police decided to escalate,” Clapp said. “We stand with our immigrant brothers and sisters, and their right to free speech was under attack, and it was brutally suppressed by the police, and it’s not acceptable, and its not going to stop us from organizing.”
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Cochran-Johnson says there were two other protests in DeKalb County that were peaceful. But arrests were made at the Chamblee Tucker Road protest because police say demonstrators were trying to march onto Interstate 285.
“We welcome the review and hope for the best from it, but we don’t have a lot of confidence in it because this should not have happened in the first place,” Clapp said.
Several of the protesters arrested were released from the DeKalb County Jail on bond on Tuesday.
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