Cop Who Tased Woman Is Fired Over 'Core Values'

A Georgia police officer has been fired after Tasing a Black woman during an arrest—but it wasn't the Tasing or the arrest that got him fired, NBC News reports. Gwinnett County Police said the officer, Michael Oxford, "violated our policy and did not meet our core values" when arresting Kyndesia Smith on Aug. 18. Police said Oxford went to the Loganville home because people there were accused of threatening a neighbor's family and throwing a bottle at their car. When Oxford showed up, he recognized someone on the porch as one seen retrieving the bottle in a surveillance video. Smith yelled at him and he yelled back at her: "When he came up he said, 'You all need to shut the [expletive] up,'" the woman's mother told WSB-TV.

Oxford warned Smith several times to let him proceed and finally arrested her. When she refused handcuffs, police said, Oxford Tased, cuffed, and put her in a police car as she kicked and head-butted him. (See arrest footage here and here, or body-cam footage here.) Smith was later charged with felony obstruction and simple battery against an officer and freed on $5,900 bond, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Her mother told WSB-TV that Oxford's use of force was unnecessary—and "her side where the Taser went in is messed up"—but after investigating, police released Oxford for his manners: Officers must behave "in a kind, considerate, and patient manner," the department said, adding that its "core values" include "courtesy" and the promotion of "mutual respect with the community and our peers." (More police stories.)