Police Academy: Officers Not at Fault in IHOP Brawl

ATLANTA, Ga. - The Atlanta Police Department’s police academy says they’ve reviewed video of a confrontation between officers and a group of women at a Buckhead IHOP restaurant, and they don’t believe it’s necessary to make any changes to their training procedures. Meanwhile, a top city official says the officers’ actions may have been lawful, but the incident looked awful.

The head of the Atlanta Police Union told FOX 5 the actions of the officers involved have been cleared even though the April 23 incident sparked outrage in the community. Detective Ken Allen of the Atlanta Police Union told FOX 5 he believes the officer involved responded within the law when he hit a woman who initiated a confrontation with him.

Detective Allen says the academy reviewed statements made by witnesses as well as operational standards when considering the video of the incident. Meanwhile, the Office of Professional Standards is continuing to investigate the incident.

Cristina Beamud, director of the Citizens Review Board, also watched home video of the incident. She told FOX 5 that while she feels that the officers involved acted within the rule of law, it’s something she would consider to be ”lawful but awful. She said she feels that most people hold the belief that it’s unnecessary to punch a woman in the face, and that her gender plays into it.

Beamud said her criticism is meant to be constructive, and that instead, the officer may have been able to find a way to diffuse the situation instead before it escalated.

Cell phone video posted on YouTube shows the confrontation between Atlanta police officers and two women inside a Buckhead IHOP. Witnesses said one of the women hit one of the officers, who then hit her back.

”It was like the royal rumble in there, said Eugene Brown, who witnessed it. ”It was Wrestlemania basically in there-- arms flying, screaming, shouting.

Brown said he was at the IHOP early that moing, coming straight from the Atlanta Hawks playoff game. His cousin shot video of the brawl.  Brown says even before police arrived, the women had been screaming, yelling and refusing to leave for several minutes.