When Katie McCrary walked into the office of the former DeKalb County district attorney, he said he knew instantly he would represent her and ended up doing so pro bono.
“It’s the right thing to do,” Robert James said.
McCrary, who requested James’ legal assistance about a week ago, is accused of solicitation and obstruction in an incident that ended with a DeKalb police officer beating her with a baton. The incident happened June 4 at a Chevron gas station on Glenwood Road, authorities said.
A 1-minute, 39-second video of the incident went viral and sparked a GBI investigation into the officer’s use of force.
Although the GBI has not completed that investigation and no further charges have been filed against McCrary, James is representing her in the criminal case.
“When I saw the video online, I was troubled,” he said. “I was angry, and my first thought was somebody needs to help this woman.”
Glenda Hatchett, who is part of The Hatchett Firm and is best known for her syndicated television role as "Judge Hatchett," confirmed her firm is representing McCrary civilly.
"We're going to see what we can resolve," Hatchett said. "We're just really looking out for her best interest."
The woman’s husband, Antoine McCrary, told Channel 2 Action News his wife suffers from mental health issues.
According to a DeKalb incident report, the incident unfolded when the police were called and Officer P.J. Larscheid showed up. McCrary told the officer she was a federal agent and gave a “random badge number” as she tried to walk past him, according to the report.
After Larscheid warned McCrary she could be charged with impersonating an officer, she tried to grab Larscheid’s badge, the officer stated in the report.
That’s when Larscheid pulled out his baton and hit the woman “an unknown amount of baton strikes to her left leg,” according to the report.
At that point, McCrary dropped to the ground, the report stated.
“I continued my baton strikes to her legs and forearms instructing her to stop resisting and to lay down with her hands behind her back,” Larscheid wrote. “One strike inadvertently struck the side of her head as she was moving around.”
McCrary was evaluated at Grady Memorial Hospital, later booked into the DeKalb jail and released June 6, according to jail records.
Larscheid has been with the police department for more than five years. During that span, he used force 14 times, including euthanizing a deer with a firearm in 2011, according to his personnel file obtained by Channel 2.
James, who was a prosecutor for 18 years, said he knows he doesn’t yet have the entire story. But he said nothing he saw in the video “justified that kind of beating.”
“So my heart goes out to her, and I’m just going to do what I can to help her through this process,” James said.
He said he is “anxiously and patiently” awaiting the GBI investigation results.
“Somebody needs to stand up for her,” James said. “And this officer needs to be held accountable.”
MORE: Officer who beat woman with baton had 14 previous use of force incidents
MORE: Video of officer beating woman with baton stirs emotions, investigation
— Staff writer Ellen Eldridge contributed to this article.
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