‘He Was Snoring, But He Still Wasn’t Giving Me His Hands’: Kentucky Cop Sued for Knocking Out Innocent Black Army Veteran with Dementia Who had Wandered from Home
George Henderson, a 61-year-old Black man and army veteran with Alzheimer’s disease, had wandered from his home in Tennessee last year, ending up across state lines in a convenience store where he was in desperate need of help.
But instead of helping him, a local cop in Kentucky slammed him to the ground and punched him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious after accusing him of being under the influence of drugs, falsely claiming Henderson had cocaine in his nose.
Last month, Henderson’s wife, Kimberly, filed a lawsuit against Guthrie police officer Jacob Pritchett, accusing the cop of excessive force, battery, defamation, negligence and malicious prosecution.
Guthrie Police Chief Dean Blumel is also listed as a defendant, accused of negligent policy enforcement and negligent training, which is ironic considering the chief claimed Pritchett was acting on his “training and departmental policy” when he falsely accused the Black man of being on drugs and beat him unconscious.
“During this arrest for nonexistent cocaine, Defendant Pritchett slung the Plaintiff to the gas station floor, mounted the Plaintiff’s back, and, while the Plaintiff was fully subdued, struck the Plaintiff in the back of the head, causing a contusion, laceration and head trauma and rendering the Plaintiff unconscious for a period of time,” according to the lawsuit filed in Todd County Circuit Court by Kentucky attorney Jeremy Stochaj on April 24.
Henderson, a retired master sergeant who spent almost three decades in the U.S. Army where he served in six overseas deployments, receiving head injuries and PTSD as a result, was charged with five false charges; theft by unlawful taking, public intoxication, resisting arrest, assault of a police officer, and possession of a controlled substance.
Those charges remained pending for three months before a grand jury chose not to indict him, according to Clarksville Now.
“Based on the information Officer Pritchett had that was available to him, and the circumstances that were presented during the interaction, Officer Pritchett handled the matter consistent with his training and departmental policy,” Chief Blumel said in a statement to the media after the incident.
However, nobody apparently trained Pritchett in how to get people to identify themselves without beating them unconscious because it took a store employee a few seconds to learn Henderson’s name by simply asking him after the cop expressed frustration at not knowing his name, according to his body cameras footage posted below.
Silver Alert
Henderson disappeared from his home in Clarksville, Tennessee, around 2 p.m. on Dec. 6, and a Silver Alert, which is a public notification system to share information about missing elderly people suffering from dementia, was issued at 4 p.m. by both the Clarksville Police Department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Henderson ended up across state lines in Kentucky, where he was found 10 hours later in a gas station after the attendant called police to say Henderson attempted to steal his parked car, but it appears as if the Black man was simply confused because of his disabilities.
When Pritchett arrived, Henderson appeared confused and incoherent but not dangerous or violent.
“I ain’t doing nothing. I ain’t trying to steal nothing,” Henderson told the officer while wearing two different shoes on his feet.
“Do you take any kind of medication or something,” Pritchett asked Henderson. “Your pupils are very, very, very tiny, pinpointed. Can you look up in the air for me?”
“I don’t drink, I don’t (do) drugs,” Henderson said.
“Put you hands behind your back for me, you got cocaine in your nose,” Pritchett said.
“That’s a lie, That’s a lie,” responded Henderson as Pritchett grabbed him and wrestled him to the ground, where the older man ended up face-down on the floor with the cop on top of him.
The video shows the cop’s left hand holding his head down while punching him once on the back of his head with his right hand, rendering Henderson unconscious for about 30 seconds.
“Let go of my hand, godd*ammit! Put your hands behind your back!” the cop yelled while both his hands were clearly free of Henderson’s grasp.
Even after learning that Henderson had dementia and had been reported missing, Pritchett still claimed he was guilty of a crime, even after he had been knocked unconscious.
“He was snoring, but he still wasn’t giving me his hands,” Pritchett told paramedics who responded to the scene, according to body camera footage.
“I could still feel active resistance.”
Pritchett even asked paramedics if they had anything that he could use to swab Henderson’s nose for cocaine, even though there is no white powder visible in his nose in the body camera footage.
“We have nothing that will help you with that,” a paramedic responded.
Instead of returning Henderson to his family, Pritchett transported Henderson to jail in an apparent effort to justify his aggressive behavior against a man in distress.
Since the unlawful arrest, Henderson has suffered three seizures, something he had never experienced before, his wife, Kimberly, told Clarksville Now.
In an email statement to Atlanta Black Star, Stochaj, the attorney, said Pritchett was likely acting on bias.
“George and his family have spent their lives making sacrifices for this country, only for George to be brutalized and criminalized by a purported public servant during his time of profound need,” the statement said.
“The video speaks for itself: George was not hostile and displayed every sign of mental distress, but no signs of drug use.”
“Nevertheless, Officer Pritchett – acting presumably on bias – slung him to the floor, mounted his back, and knocked him unconscious. Then, Officer Pritchett compounded his abuse by charging a decorated military veteran and the subject of an active Silver Alert with crimes he very clearly did not commit, and by denying George clearly needed medical attention.”
“To date, no one associated with the Guthrie Police Department has made any effort to take accountability for this disturbing behavior. We will continue working tirelessly to vindicate the rights George so painstakingly earned.”
Despite serving their country, Black veterans are frequent targets of police abuse and have their rights violated, as Atlanta Black Star has reported many times in the past.