Chattooga County Sheriff requests GBI to conduct independent investigation State Line Road incident

On Tuesday, May 28th, at 2:46 p.m., Chattooga County Sheriff Mark A. Schrader released the following statement, “As a matter of public transparency, I have formally requested the GBI conduct an independent investigation into the recent incident that occurred on State Line Road. My office is still continuing our internal investigation and evaluation of this incident.”

The State Line Road incident occurred on Thursday, May 16th, after 7:30 p.m.

Sheriff Schrader released his first statement regarding the incident on Saturday, May 25th, at 4:26 p.m.

“An internal evaluation of the use of force by deputies is being conducted to ensure the deputies acted within the scope of our policies,” Schrader said.

As far as an internal investigation is concerned at the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office, Schrader said, “We will gather all the facts in this case, the videos, reports, statements, interviews of witnesses, etc. Once that is completed, we will review all information and look at the actions and the force used by the deputies. We then evaluate that information as it pertains to our policies.”

When asked for a timeline of the investigation process, Schrader said, “I am sorry but I cannot provide a timeline. Chief Deputy Woods began to gather information the day after the incident.”

The policies for use of force were not available on Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office website, as the website gives an error. (https://www.chattoogasheriff.com/)

AllOnGeorgia requested a copy of the policies on the use of force from the Sheriff’s Office, but at the time of publication the requested policies had not been received.

AllOnGeorgia also sent an Open Records Request for the body camera footage of the deputies involved in the incident, Sheriff Schrader promptly responded, “This case is still open, therefore documents or videos (less the initial incident report) are not releasable under open records at this time.”

For more on the State Line Road Incident:

https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/family-claims-excessive-force-chattooga-county-deputies

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/disturbing-video-shows-deputies-tase-man-with-head-injury-after-atv-crash-put-him-headlock/A6P4IBDX7FGSBHODO7T5UJHE5U/

Family alleges that Chattooga County deputies used excessive force