From [HERE] and [HERE] Washington County's NAACP chapter will meet Sunday to discuss the death of a Black man after being Tased by 3 white deputies. He said the group has invited representatives from the Washington County Sheriff's Office, and county commissioners.
The GBI is investigating last Friday's death of Eurie Martin, who died on the side of Deepstep Road after being tased while deputies responded to a report of a "suspicious person" on the road.
Deputy Michael Howell, Sargent Lee Copeland and Deputy Rhett Scott were the responding officers who killed Martin according to a press release from the Washington County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff's office says Martin fought deputies, but a bystander's phone video doesn't show that.
Dotson called the Tasing a "wrongful death," because there's no evidence that Martin did anything wrong.
"The video doesn't show him doing anything but walking, and that's not a crime," said Dotson.
Stop Calling the Police to Help Black People 'in Distress'
Eurie Martin died on Friday while in Washington County Sheriff's Office custody.
Helen Martin, Eurie Martin's sister said, "I did find out that he had been deceased until that afternoon..on Saturday afternoon..somewhere about 2:30 maybe 3 o'clock."
Earlier that night Helen Martin received a call from a friend that her brother was walking down Deepstep Road.
"When I did make the 911 call I let them know who he was, told them his birthday. I also told them, asked them really could they go out and check on him. And I told them that I was in no condition to go out to check on him and get him myself because I just really wasn't in the condition," said Helen Martin.
What martin didn't know was that someone else had already called 9-1-1 about her brother shortly after 7 pm because of "suspicious activity," according to a GBI press release.
Helen says Eurie needed help though and couldn't be on his own.
"He couldn't function. He couldn't take care of himself really. He had really basically depend on others," said Martin.
This video, sent to us by a viewer, shows Washington County Sheriff's deputies meeting Eurie.
GBI agents say a physical altercation occurred between Eurie and the officers leading up to Eurie being tased.
The video then shows Eurie being tased once, getting back up, and it appears he is tased a second time.
"When I saw that on that video, you know, he was backing back. That indicates that they should have left him alone," said Helen Martin.
GBI says shortly after the altercation Eurie was in respiratory distress.
EMS did respond but Eurie died on-scene.
The names of the Washington County Sheriff's deputies have been released.
The three deputies involved are Lee Copeland, Michael Howell, and Rhett Scott.
The GBI is investigating so we were unable to confirm if Eurie Martin was tased once or twice, even though in the video it appears to be twice.
The Washington County Sheriff could not speak either but he did say their prayers are with Eurie's family. [lol]