EMT accused of punching handcuffed teen gets probation

ATLANTA — A former EMT who repeatedly punched a restrained 17-year-old in an ambulance last year will spend 12 months on probation, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Deannah Williams was arrested by Dunwoody police last May after an officer’s body camera captured the former American Medical Response employee punching the teen in the face while his ankles were fastened to a stretcher and his arms were handcuffed behind his back.

The ambulance company was called to a Dunwoody home to transport the teen to a nearby hospital for an evaluation, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.

Body camera footage showed an irate Williams repeatedly strike the teen in the face after she said he spit on her.

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Dunwoody police then grabbed Williams and pulled her out of the ambulance through a side door.

“What is wrong with you?" Officer Kevin Lopez asks the woman. “That is a kid, that is a child, a 17-year-old child,”

“That (expletive) spit on me,” Williams yells back. “I don’t give a (expletive.)”

Moments later, she was arrested on a battery charge.

DeKalb court records show Williams reached a plea agreement on March 11 under the First Offender Act.

She was sentenced to 12 months on probation and ordered to spend four days in jail, though two of those days were credited. Williams was also ordered to take six anger management courses and serve 80 hours of community service.

This story was written by Shaddi Abusaid for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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