COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) – Police bodycam videos of a business owner getting arrested and detained on separate occasions in Manchester, Georgia are gaining traction on social media. Right now, they have nearly half a million views on YouTube. She reached out to News Leader 9 for help on what she considers an unlawful arrest.
Manchester, Georgia, known for its railroads, is located about 40 miles northeast of Columbus in Talbot and Meriwether Counties. It’s a small town where everyone knows everyone, including local businesswoman Tameka Lowe.
Police bodycam video of Lowe involved in two different police encounters has been seen more than 400,000 times on YouTube. The most recent video shows her being arrested for refusing to identify herself.
Lowe says the first video showed Manchester police detaining her for window shopping downtown on Thanksgiving night of 2021.
“Walking, getting some fresh air. It had been a hard Thanksgiving because we had lost a family member. And it was our first Thanksgiving as a family without her,” said Lowe.
She accuses the officer of harassing her, but the officer denies the claim, saying he’s just trying to do his job. The officer’s supervisor then showed up.
Lowes says she eventually showed her ID and was released without being arrested. The woman then filed a complaint against the officer and secretly recorded the meeting with Manchester Police Chief Gray Couch.
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Five months later, in April 2022, Lowe had another encounter with Manchester police outside her marketing business. She says she was wrapping for the night, checking emails while sitting in her car, when the same officer who detained her on Thanksgiving night later came to the scene.
Lowe says the conversation escalated when the officer told her he needed her ID because he didn’t know who she was.
Another officer, Officer Norris, tells Lowe it’s nothing personal. Officer Carpenter, the officer from the initial incident on Thanksgiving, is simply trying to do his job, and the woman is obstructing.
Lowe calls her aunt, a city councilwoman, and it doesn’t sit well with the officer. Soon after, she was arrested by the officers.
Four months after Lowe’s arrest, she was scheduled to go to court for a motion hearing in August. News Leader got wind of the case and started submitting our requests to bring a camera into the courtroom.
One day before the hearing, we received notice that the judge had recused himself. The reason was a conflict, but there were no specifics in the email.
Right now, Tameka Lowe’s case has not been rescheduled. However, she says her civil rights attorney has served the City of Manchester with a letter of intent to file a lawsuit against the Machester Police Department.
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