Community boycotts gas station where beating caught on video

A Georgia lawmaker will weigh in on the investigation of a DeKalb County police officer's use of force against a woman at a convenience store which was caught on camera.

Posted 2:57 p.m. Jul 18, 2017 — Updated 2:57 p.m. Jul 18, 2017

WGCL Digital Team

DEKALB COUNTY, GA — A Georgia lawmaker will weigh in on the investigation of a DeKalb County police officer's use of force against a woman at a convenience store which was caught on camera.

State representative Renitta Shannon and other members of the general assembly will meet Tuesday at 3 p.m. at the Coverdell legislative office building on Capitol Square, one day after the community protest of the store where an officer was videotaped brutally beating a woman with his baton.

"The community and I are deeply disturbed by this officer's actions," said Rep. Shannon. "I realize that this incident is currently being investigated by the GBI, but I have reached out to DeKalb County Police Chief J.W. Conroy and have a meeting scheduled for Friday, July 21 to discuss concerns about community interactions with police."

Officer P.J. Larscheid remains on restricted duty as the investigation into the incident continues.

According to the incident report, Katie McCrary was questioned by police after begging customers for money at a Chevron gas station on Glenwood Road in Decatur and that's when she allegedly pushed the responding officer at the scene. Protesters don't believe the officer's use of force was warranted.

"Everyone deserves to be treated equally especially by our law enforcement officers," community activist Arit Essien said.

CBS46 asked why DeKalb County Police didn't obtain surveillance video in a timely manner, and whether they interviewed witnesses during the initial investigation before clearing the officer of any wrong doing.

DeKalb officials tell CBS46 they can't answer our questions about how they conducted their initial investigation because that is now a part of the GBI investigation. We checked with Georgia POST Council and Larscheid does not currently have any infractions on his record.

The store owner says they keep everything on record for several days but by the time officers requested the video, it had already been deleted.

On Monday, CBS46 asked protesters why they're conducting a boycott of the store.

"The community feels like the store owner, he had the tape. He saw what was happening and he could have turned in the police officer also. He knew that it was wrong," said Amos King, President of the group Justice for Veterans. "The police department didn't receive the tape until ten days later. You know, that's a problem right there. So the store owner has a responsibility too to protect the people who comes in his store and he didn't do that."

The GBI has taken over the investigation.

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