A white Georgia police officer seen in viral TikTok video shocking a Black woman with a Taser on her front porch has been fired, the Gwinnett County Police Department announced Friday. The video, which was recorded Tuesday, showed the now-former officer Michael Oxford arguing with 22-year-old Kyndesia Smith, then using a Taser on her when she refused to allow the officer to handcuff her. The Gwinnett Police Department said in a news release even before the encounter Oxford "was flagged by supervisors and an investigation had begun."
"That investigation looked at whether proper de-escalation techniques were used, and whether Officer Oxford violated our policy based on the manner in which he handled the incident," the department said. "Our policy states that each member of this department shall consider it his or her duty to be of service to the general public and to render that service in a kind, considerate, and patient manner.
“One of our core values is courtesy (...) The investigation in this case has shown that Officer Oxford violated our policy and did not meet our core values. For this reason, the employment of Officer Oxford has been terminated as of August 21st."
Oxford was called to the scene on a report of property damage to a neighbor's car, according to a police report The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained. When Oxford arrived, the neighbor told him one of the women accused of the damage also threatened to “kick her son in the head.” The neighbor provided security footage of the damage, but when Oxford identified someone on the scene who matched a person he saw in the footage, he had a difficult time furthering his investigation. The person he was trying to question, Smith's mother Aytra Thomas, was part of a group of women shouting at Oxford, he said in the police report. “The other people that were on scene with her continued to yell and scream at me, making it very difficult to speak with Aytra and further conduct my investigation,” he wrote.
Oxford told Smith to be quiet and leave the area if she didn't want to be arrested on obstruction charges, but she refused, according to the viral video footage. “I’m not going nowhere, it doesn’t matter,” she told him. “You’re on our property. We did not call you.”
The situation escalated when Oxford told Smith to "get on the ground" and shocked her with the Taser when she refused. “I then utilized (an) arm lock/leverage technique on Smith’s left arm in order to get the left arm behind her back to be handcuffed,” he said in the incident report. Smith was also accused of kicking Oxford.
Gwinnett police said they investigated Smith's arrest, Oxford's use of force, and his conduct. "The investigation on the first and second concern reflects that there was probable cause to arrest Smith for Obstruction of a Law Enforcement Officer and that the subsequent use of force was within policy," police said. "The third concern that was investigated was the conduct of Officer Oxford." He failed to uphold department standard's on conduct, the Gwinnett police department said.
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