An emergency medical technician (EMT) in Georgia was arrested and charged with battery after police witnessed her beating a 17-year-old boy in the back of an ambulance while he was restrained.
EMT Deannah Williams was arrested on May 12 after Dunwoody police caught part of the incident on their body cameras, in video that was released on Wednesday.
Williams responded to the scene as an employee of American Medical Response (AMR), which is a major ambulance service provider in the state.
Williams is no longer employed with AMR, the company said in a statement provided to NBC’s 11Alive news team.
Georgia EMT Deannah Williams (pictured) was arrested and charged with battery after police witnessed her beating a 17-year-old boy in the back of an ambulance while he was restrained
Paramedics from AMR were called to take the teenager to the hospital for mental evaluation, according to a police report.
Dunwoody Police were on the scene because they also received the medical call.
According to the incident report, the teen grew agitated after learning he would be taken to a medical facility.
His hands were then cuffed behind his back and his feet were restrained.
The teen involved in the incident is shown here after the alleged beating, with hands cuffed and feet restrained; Williams is seen in the back being escorted out of the ambulance by police
The police body camera footage showed movement inside the ambulance, but it was difficult to make out exactly what was going on behind the closed doors of the vehicle
Police then boarded the ambulance and the footage shows Williams upset, yelling at the teen and being escorted out of the emergency vehicle by police
Williams was attempting to put an anti-spit mask on the teen, but before she could do it, he allegedly spit in her face.
‘Once he spit in her face he jerked forward again and she just started swinging on him,’ a witness told 11Alive.
The police body camera footage showed movement inside the ambulance, but it was difficult to make out exactly what was going on behind the closed doors of the vehicle.
Police then boarded the ambulance and the footage shows Williams upset, yelling at the teen and being escorted out of the emergency vehicle by police.
Police can be heard repeatedly telling Williams, ‘Relax,’ after she yells ‘Your mama,’ at the teen
‘What is wrong with you?’ an officer asks, to which Williams yes, ‘That *** spit on me’
Police can be heard repeatedly telling Williams, ‘Relax,’ after she yells ‘Your mama,’ at the teen.
Officers hurry her out of the ambulance, with one saying, ‘Cuff her up,’ three times as she is walked down the steps.
‘What is wrong with you?’ an officer asks.
‘That *** spit on me,’ she yells.
‘This is your job,’ he says.
‘I don’t give a f***. Don’t put your bodily fluids on me,’ she said.
‘I’m not spitting on you,’ the officer says.
‘Not you,’ she yells.
‘If you don’t like people spitting on you, then quit,’ an officer tells Williams at the scene
Paramedics from AMR were called to take the teenager to the hospital for mental evaluation
‘That is a kid, that is a child, a 17-year-old child. What are you doing?’ the officer asks to Williams.
‘I don’t care,’ Williams says. ‘He spit on me.’
‘This is your job,’ he tells her. ‘You do this for a living right?’
‘I understand, but you not gonna spit on me,’ Williams says.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ he says, trying to reason with Williams.
‘Yes it does,’ she says.
‘If you don’t like people spitting on you, then quit,’ he tells her.
At that point, a woman walks over to Williams and demands her information, telling her, ‘I’m sure the parents are gonna want to press charges.’
Then the officer walks away, expressing his disbelief, saying, ‘This is not real life right now.’
Another officer can then be heard saying, ‘That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen, am I wrong?’
The officer who was talking with Williams asks the teen at this point, ‘Are you alright, man? Are you OK?’
‘I’m gonna tell my parents about that, straight up,’ the teen says.
Officers could be heard on body camera audio expressing how shocking the incident was
The officer who was talking with Williams asks the teen, ‘Are you alright, man? Are you OK?’ before calling for a new AMR team as Williams is placed under arrest
The officer then calls for a different AMR unit to come to the scene to carry out the medical call.
Officers then approach Williams again and inform her she is being placed under arrest for battery.
AMR released the following statement, confirming that Williams was no longer an employee with the company:
‘We were notified Saturday evening that an employee was arrested for assault in an incident related to a call for service. We are not able to comment on the ongoing investigation and defer to the police department for specifics related to the incident.
‘We take this matter very seriously. The individual is no longer an employee with American Medical Response. The safety of patients in our care is of the utmost importance to us and we have hundreds of employees in the area who care for hundreds of patients in Dekalb County each day. Our paramedics have tremendous pride in what we do, and we are honored to have the responsibility to provide care for residents.’
The parents of the boy, who wished to remain anonymous, told Channel 2 Action News before even seeing the video that reading the police report had their ‘blood boiling.’
‘He’s a child, you know, no human being deserves that,’ the teen’s father said.
‘I’m very appalled,’ said his mother. ‘They both should be held accountable, the company [AMR] and also her for what she did.’
Williams could not immediately be reached for comment.
Bystanders gathered around the back of the ambulance after Williams was placed under arrest