WINDER, Ga. — One teen was tased, another detained and two adults were arrested after police responded to reports of teens throwing water balloons at cars and trespassing at an apartment in Winder, Georgia.
Officer Chris Cooper said he believes the kids were celebrating the end of the school year. He said that police had received several calls about kids throwing water balloons at passing cars and trespassing in neighboring yards over the Memorial Day weekend.
Late Tuesday, Cooper said two officers responded to the Glenwood Terrace Apartments, part of Georgia Housing Authority, where they encountered a crowd of about 100 people.
When the patrol car arrived, people started throwing water balloons at it, police said. The crowd was warned to settle down, but several got unruly and created a circle around the officers as they started questioning people.
"Well, we were just throwing water balloons and playing with water and the police came. They told us to stop playing with water," said Quama Billings, who witnessed the incident, including water balloons being tossed at the police car. He denied that any of the children were throwing water balloons at passing vehicles. "We had wet the police, (a female police officer) got mad, then more police came."
A 16-year-old was taken down to the ground, which caused the crowd to yell and curse at police, Cooper said. The officer drew his Taser to warn the crowd to settle down. The other officer saw someone running up to them and tased them. That person turned out to be a 14-year-old, police said. The two juveniles were detained and later released to family.
Quanjuana Hamilton, 31, and LeChateau Hamilton, 33, were both arrested for disorderly conduct.
LeChateau Hamilton's son was the boy who got tased. She said an officer took her to the ground and arrested her as she tried to check on her teen son.
"They tased him and when they tased him he started shaking and just fell over," Hamilton said. "That is when they picked me up and took me to the police car and wouldn't let me talk to him."
The grandmother of the boy said he is sore from the incident, but otherwise doing fine. She believed resorting to the taser was excessive, on behalf of police.
"They didn't have to do him like that," Clinita Morton said. "Something needs to be done and I mean something needs to be done quick."
People in the neighborhood said children in Winder don't have many options in the summer for outdoor fun.
"My thought about it, it wasn't right," said Ricky Hicks, who saw the incident unfold. "The kids, it is a hot summer. They going to play with balloons. They can't make it to a pool or whatever."
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