Attorney: Dog-busting cops caused woman's miscarriage

By Ty Tagami

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A pregnant woman suffered a miscarriage due to rough treatment by Clayton County authorities who were enforcing a local dog ordinance, the woman's attorney said Tuesday.

More than two dozen county cops and sheriff's deputies swarmed Shennielle Youhoing-Nanan's home in early March and waved guns in her face, according to the attorney, Thomas F. Jones of Atlanta.

One officer pushed his knee into Youhoing-Nanan's back as she lay on the floor, and she lost her two-month-old fetus because of it, Jones said.

Jones said he filed a complaint against both the Clayton Sheriff's Office and Police Department.

"I anticipate there certainly will be a lawsuit down the road, however, we wanted to follow appropriate procedure," Jones told the AJC on Tuesday.

Clayton police spokesman Officer Otis Willis confirmed Tuesday that the police Internal Affairs unit received the complaint, and he said the department would have no comment.

A sheriff's spokesperson did not return a call for comment.

Police said at the time of her March 3 arrest that Youhoing-Nanan, 43, had violated a Clayton ordinance prohibiting anyone from keeping more than five dogs over four months of age. Police also said Clayton Animal Control officers had been trying to contact her for a year before they obtained a warrant for her arrest.

Youhoing-Nanan had a dozen dogs in unsanitary conditions in her backyard, authorities said. She received 13 citations and was charged with obstruction “due to her intentional avoidance of the Clayton County Animal Control Officers,” police said at the time.

But Jones, her attorney, said only four of the dogs were adults and the rest were puppies, and that Animal Control later confirmed that she was not violating the ordinance when she was arrested.

Jones said Youhoing-Nanan was rousted from her home in bedclothes and paraded into the street partially naked. He said she was taken to a hospital after emergency medical personnel determined she needed care. He also said she was taken to jail after her hospital discharge.

Jones said Youhoing-Nanan began bleeding because of the rough treatment, and that a doctor whom she visited later could testify that she suffered a miscarriage.

"Witnesses can say the knee in the back is what caused the heavy bleeding," Jones said. "It was like a SWAT team raid ... certainly an overreaction for dogs."