Officers with the Macon County Sheriff’s Office had an encounter with a woman wielding a machete in the middle of traffic on Georgia Road Sunday, Aug. 8
Deputies responded to a report in front of the Exxon on US 441 South, where several people were standing in the middle of the road and interfering with the flow of traffic. One of them was a woman brandishing a machete whom the officers say they were familiar with. The woman complied when she was instructed to put down the weapon and get on the ground.
The incident was filmed by at least one civilian and was also caught on the deputies’ bodycam footage. Since then, rumors have circulated that the woman was tased during the incident.
“Deputies who were on the scene of this incident state that a taser was never used during the entire encounter with this individual,” Sheriff Robert Holland said in a release posted Monday night on Facebook.
In the video, the woman can be seen tossing away the machete, getting on her knees and eventually lying down after one officer reaches out towards her with what appears to be a black glove on his hand. The glove may have looked like a taser to some viewers, but the officer appears to be too far away from the woman to have effectively used a taser on her, and no projectile barbs can be seen.
Following interviews with the deputies, Holland said, “the deputies who responded to the incident stated there was never a need for displaying a taser or any other weapon they may carry.”
Holland said the situation was handled responsibly by all the authorities involved, as well as those who reported the incident, and expressed his gratitude for their help in addressing the problem.
“This was a dangerous situation on many levels and excellent police work,” Holland said in the release. “From the citizens who reported the incident, the deputies who responded, EMS, Franklin Police and all the way to the hospital staff who eventually assisted the female, [they] should be commended for their efforts.”