‘Watching this guy take my baby’ | Parents upset over Waynesboro officers
WAYNESBORO, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - While police were arresting a father, a few steps away, a man grabbed his child out of the car.
Now there’s a complaint filed, and two Waynesboro officers are under investigation.
We reached out to the Waynesboro Police Department investigator on this case, they told us they could not provide any additional information until the investigation is complete.
The El Cheapo gas station in Waynesboro is where it all started. We talked to the dad and the mom who filed the complaint and they’re sharing their side of the story.
Chundra and Sam Hendrix and their 7-year-old daughter are traumatized after they say a man nearly abducted her while police were just yards away.
“If it happens to us, who else will it happen to,” asked Ms. Hendrix.
“I go towards this car, and I see this man I don’t know, this car I don’t recognize with my kid in the backseat,” said Mrs. Hendrix.
According to the incident report provided to us by Hendrix, police were called to the gas station after a man called saying Mr. Hendrix was upset and using profane language towards a store clerk.
When they arrived, a verbal exchange ensued between Hendrix and two officers and they arrested him for disorderly conduct.
“Her exact words to me Saturday evening after this was ‘mommy can we move now, it’s not safe here.’ For me as a mother, it’s Friday, and I’m still trying to process this,” she said.
Waynesboro Police allowed the Hendrix’s to view the body cam video. They say it shows after handcuffing and placing Mr. Hendrix in the back of the patrol car, the two officers walked back into the gas station. All while a strange man grabbed the unattended 7-year-old out of Mr. Hendrix’s truck.
“I’m sitting in a police car watching this guy take my baby. I’m sitting screaming and the police walk back in and they’re laughing and joking on this body cam about locking me up,” said Mr. Hendrix.
Once the officers came back out of the store, they stopped the man and asked if he knew the girl. He said no.
“He tells him ‘you can’t just be taking peoples kids like that, that’s considered kidnapping, but you’re not in any trouble though.’ This is what the police tell him on the body cam,” said Mr. Hendrix.
We spoke to a retired law enforcement expert, he says in this case the officers should have gotten the identification and information on the strange man. We asked investigators if the officers did so, and we received no answer.
Worry and sleepless nights have covered the Hendrix family in the days since. Now they’re just asking for answers and consequences.
“I’m thankful that she’s safe. I’m thankful. But that’s just something that no mother and father should even have to feel,” said Mrs. Hendrix.
As of Sunday afternoon, Mrs. Hendrix was told by the police department that the officers involved are still on duty.
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