By Kristi E. Swartz and Rhonda Cook
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — The four women who were part of a scuffle with an off-duty Atlanta police officer had barely sat down at a table at the Buckhead IHOP when the confrontation started.
“It was just four girls, just a regular night out, going to get something to eat,” Cynthia Freeman said.
Freeman said she noticed two guys dressed in costumes from Star Wars.
“Wow, they got the helmet . . . they’ve got everything, what are you guys doing?” Freeman said she asked early that Saturday morning.
Minutes later, she said a man in a blue shirt came over to their table.
“He tells me, ‘Shut up, be quiet, you need to leave,’” an emotional Freeman said.
What followed was mayhem.
A video of the incident appeared to show an officer punching another woman. Freeman said she didn’t know that woman, later identified as Ashley Leavell, who had been dining at another table.
“She was trying to get the officer to back off,” Freeman said.
Freeman was among four arrested in the 4 a.m. incident, according to Atlanta attorney Bobby Aniekwu, who is representing Freeman and two of the others in the matter, which he considers a case of “excessive force.”
He said Freeman is charged with obstruction of justice, criminal trespass and simple battery. Leavell was charged with obstruction, public drunkenness and simple battery.
Freeman, speaking to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday at Aniekwu’s downtown office, said she did not realize the man who approached her table was a police officer.
“When we walked in, I didn’t pay anybody no attention. I just sat down,” she said. “I looked at his face. I didn’t look at what he had on or anything because everything happened so fast. I didn’t know what he was until he pulled out those cuffs.”
Freeman said the officer pulled on her hair to the point that some of it came out. Her friend, Roberta Caban, said the officer never identified himself before the incident.
It is not yet known if the women will sue. Aniekwu said he had not yet received a copy of the police report.
“As I sit here today, there’s a great likelihood we will start some litigation,” he said.
What started the melee is unclear. Freeman said she and her friends, seated at the first table near the front door of the IHOP, were speaking to her friends about two patrons who were dressed in Star Wars costumes when an off-duty APD officer approached.
“He just attacked me,” Freeman said, “And I said, ‘What did I do? What did I do? I didn’t do anything.’ ”
She added, “I didn’t touch this man, never, not once. I didn’t pay him any attention what he had on. I was just looking at his face because he was yelling.”
According to several videos posted on YouTube.com, the officer, whose name police have not provided, shouted at a woman sitting in the corner of a booth near the door and then he lunged at her. A woman wearing a black dress appeared to be trying to separate the officer and her friend when the officer slapped her. The woman in the black dress hit him back and he punched her in the face.
Within moments, a female officer appeared to hold back the crowd while the woman in the black dress, shoeless, was led out of the restaurant.
The officer involved in the incident has been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of an investigation, an Atlanta police spokesman said.
Staff writer Larry Hartstein contributed to this article.
Copyright 2011 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution