A Fulton County prosecutor was arrested and charged with interfering with a police investigation Friday night at an Atlantic Station restaurant.
Assistant District Attorney Miya Griggs was charged with disorderly conduct, obstruction and simple battery, all misdemeanors, after Atlanta police said she intervened in their questioning of a male acquaintance, Zachary Mitchell, who had been accused of grabbing the buttocks of a patron at the Yard House.
APD spokeswoman Kim Jones said Griggs, 29, presented a badge identifying herself as a Fulton County prosecutor and then attempted to walk away with Mitchell — charged with disorderly conduct under the influence, disorderly acting violent with another and obstruction — before officers had finished interviewing him.
“Upon being detained, both suspects began screaming obscenities at the officers in full view of the public,” Jones said. “A security officer subsequently told officers that Ms. Griggs had flashed her identification and struck him in the face with it.”
Jones said the Yard House manager told officers that Mitchell, 32, acted as though he was going to strike her after being told to leave the restaurant.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said in a statement that the incident was “shocking to [Griggs’] colleagues and to all of those with whom she is acquainted.”
“Miya Griggs has been an outstanding employee with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office,” the statement read. “She very quickly has progressed from her assignment in the complaint room to her current duties as second chair in the trial division. She is a soft-spoken, hard-working and very intelligent employee.”
Howard said he is reviewing the incident report and will subsequently “make a decision regarding Miya and her employment status.”
Griggs did not respond to a request for comment from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
—Staff writer Mike Morris contributed to this article.
