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After a video of two officers restraining a 10-year-old boy in Athens went viral over the weekend, police explained the circumstances of the incident Monday afternoon and released body camera footage. The incident happened Friday as officers responded to a domestic violence call in the 300 block of Sartain Drive. After a man, identified in the police report as Jawoski Mandell Collins, was placed in custody, “the suspect’s 10-year-old child became extremely emotionally distraught,” Athens-Clarke County police spokesman Epifanio Rodriguez said in a statement. As an officer walked the suspect to his patrol car, the child attempted to block his path and had to be removed and restrained by adult family members, police said. “As the suspect was being placed in the back of the patrol car, the video clearly shows the child run past family members and again ran towards our officer and lunged at one of the officers,” Rodriguez said. “Our officer caught the child in midair and the momentum of the child launching himself caused the both of them to land on the patrol car.” The child continued with the outburst, at which time the officer placed him on the ground, according to the statement. The officer told the child he was not under arrest and that he would let him up if he would remain calm.
