Family of girl at risk during father's arrest seeks stronger rebuke of Waynesboro officers
Only one of two Waynesboro Police officers will face discipline following an internal affairs investigation into an incident that almost ended with a child getting kidnapped. The family of the girl is not happy and plans to take further action.
Sam and Chundra Hendrix feel not enough has been done for their daughter and, for them, it feels like the city doesn't see their daughter as the victim she is.
“It is a slap to my face. Not only a slap to my face but it’s a disservice to my daughter who is the victim in all of this," Chundra Hendrix said. “I’m beyond livid at this very moment.”
Officer Ronald Bartlett received an eight-day suspension, a demotion from corporal status and has been placed on a six-month probation. He also can't respond to calls dealing with juveniles and is not allowed to work special duty assignments or eligible for promotion until his probation is over.
The investigation determined Sgt. Greg Stroud didn't violate any department policy, and he won't face any discipline for his involvement in the incident.
"We are going to request that all of those be terminated, the city manager, the vice mayor be replaced because it was terrible how they handled this situation," Sam Hendrix said. "They treated us not as if my daughter was the victim, but as (if) we were criminals."
In a release sent out to local media Wednesday afternoon, Waynesboro Police Chief Willie Burley said the complaint against the two officers has been "thoroughly investigated" and found Bartlett violated policy.
"We take the concerns and/or complaints of our citizens as well as our visitors very seriously. We will continue to investigate all crimes and complaints thoroughly before taking action," Burley said in the statement. "We appreciate the patience and concern of all who were involved or affected by this case."
Chundra Hendrix said no one from the city has apologized or acted concerned about her daughter's well-being following the incident.
"They never, ever apologized or anything to my daughter for what she went through," Chundra Hendrix said.
Chundra said they wanted the officers held accountable and fired, for the police to arrest the man who appeared to be kidnapping their daughter and to apologize to their daughter.
“We are planning to sue the city. This is not justice, this is like you reprimanded someone for taking a cookie out of a cookie jar," she said.
What happened?
On Jan. 22, Sam Hendrix was buying lottery tickets at the El Cheapo in Waynesboro and won $100. He went inside to claim his prize and got into a heated discussion, which including cursing, with the clerk about it, after she said the store was closed.
Another man intervened and called the Waynesboro Police Department. Bartlett and Stroud responded and began to talk to Hendrix. He explained his side. Both officers went into the store and began to investigate the incident.
Bartlett asked for Hendrix's ID but Hendrix told him he didn't have to show him an ID unless he was being charged or arrested. Stroud and Bartlett decided to arrest and charge him with disorderly conduct after he refused to provide an ID.
While being arrested, Hendrix can be heard cursing at both Stroud and Bartlett until he is placed in the back of Bartlett's patrol car. Both officers continued to investigate. Hendrix's daughter was seated inside Hendrix's truck.
“I hear my baby saying, ‘OK, Daddy’ and she is crying. So I’m thinking officer Stroud has gotten her out because I can see Bartlett standing by the car,” Hendrix said.
On Bartlett's body camera footage, the girl can be seen standing next to the passenger door of the patrol car, as she says, 'OK Daddy.' Alongside her is an unknown man carrying a small dog. Bartlett does not stop the two as they slowly walk away.
Hendrix said he thought Stroud had his child in his patrol vehicle on the other side of his truck but then he saw Stroud in the store and began to panic.
According to the investigation report, Hendrix told Bartlett, who was in the patrol car's front seat, that someone had taken his child. Bartlett's body camera footage shows him approaching a nearby car and stopping the driver from leaving. He asks the man where he is taking the child. The man says "to her house."
Bartlett replies that the girl's mother is on her way and tells the man to wait with the girl still in the car. Bartlett approaches the man again and asks him if he knows Hendrix and the girl, to which he replies he does not.
When he is asked why he took the girl, the man says that he is "a good person" and was "trying to help." Bartlett says he understands what the man was trying to do but that he could have been charged with kidnapping.
According to the incident report, Bartlett said he asked those questions because he had allegedly seen the man and Hendrix speaking with each other earlier.
“I’ve never said anything to this guy, never. I was in my truck with my baby the whole time, other than the time I was in the store,” Hendrix said. “The only person I spoke to in the store was the (clerk) who runs the store and the guy that told me I needed to leave.”
Stroud then approaches the car and asks the man if he knows the child and tells him he is not in trouble.
“It’s OK, you are not in trouble. I understand you were trying to help," Stroud can be heard saying in his body camera footage.
Stroud asks the man if he knows where the mother is, who is already on her way, and the man says he does not. When Chundra Hendrix arrives, Stroud calls her over and says they were keeping the Hendrix girl "in a warm car." After Chundra Hendrix takes her daughter to her vehicle, Stroud is heard thanking the man for his help.
The man was allowed to leave and never provided identification to either officer. Later on, Bartlett tells Chundra Hendrix that he didn't know her daughter was with the unidentified man until he had gotten back into his patrol car where Sam Hendrix was detained.
Investigation completed
According to the investigation report completed by Waynesboro Police investigator Angela Collins, Bartlett failed to stay with the unidentified man's car and failed to get the man's information or take further action.
According to the Waynesboro Police Department, the investigation uncovered that neither officer asked the stranger for identification, so they didn't know who he was. Collins was able to identify the man during the investigation and found no criminal record.
His information, along with the investigation report, was sent to the Augusta Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office to see whether charges will be filed against him. In a statement, the DA's office confirmed the investigatory file was received Monday afternoon and it is under review.
A recommendation was made in the investigation report to further charge Sam Hendrix with trespassing for failing to leave the gas station after being told to do so.
Not enough justice
Sam Hendrix said his daughter is afraid to go outside and hasn't been the same since the incident.
“She is just so nice and bubbly," he said. “She doesn’t want to be away from me or her momma. She said she is scared that the police is going to let someone else get her and, this time, we won’t get her back and she’ll never see us again."
Tuesday was the first time their daughter had attended school in almost four weeks. Sam Hendrix said the teacher texted them around 10:30 a.m. saying their daughter was uncomfortable and wanted to go home, but the teacher was able to calm her down.
“She is not sleeping good. She is restless. She is still crying," he said. “She is clingy, where she hasn’t been that way. She wants to be around me, around her mother at all times.”
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Hendrix said he wants the unidentified man to be arrested and the officers to be held accountable, as well. The family has reached out to Georgia Rep. Gloria Frazier and Sen. Max Burns as well as the DA's Office without result.
“Nobody has tried to do anything for us, other than lie and mislead us and misdirect us, acting like this investigation is continuously ongoing. Everything they need to see is right there in that video," he said. “If I wouldn’t have said nothing, he would have left with my child.”
Officers' work history
According to the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, Stroud has worked in law enforcement in the Augusta area since 2001, joining the Waynesboro Police Department in December 2020.
He was terminated from Richmond County Sheriff’s Office in 2002.
Stroud was sentenced to 12 months' probation on a misdemeanor charge of furnishing alcohol to a minor in 2002 at a Scout camp party. He was also put on 24 months' probation with Georgia P.O.S.T.
He voluntarily resigned from the Burke County Sheriff’s Office in 2010, from the Blythe Police Department in 2020 and from the Hephzibah Police Department as a reserve officer in 2021.
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In 2009, Stroud was sentenced to 12 months' probation as a first offender for a misdemeanor simple battery charge. According to the case summary, Stroud allegedly grabbed a woman, with whom he was having an affair, around the neck and pushed her to the ground. He received a 24-month probation with Georgia P.O.S.T. in that case.
“If you look at these officers' backgrounds, Officer Stroud has no business being an officer. He has been convicted of crimes twice himself," Sam Hendrix said.
Bartlett has worked in law enforcement since 1989, when he joined the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, until he voluntarily resigned in 1997. He returned to law enforcement in Augusta in 2006 when he joined Richmond County Sheriff’s Office until he was terminated in 2019. The cause for termination is unknown.
He would spend less than a year at the Wrens Police Department before joining the Waynesboro Police Department in 2021. No investigations or sanctions are on his record.
Policies regarding children
According to the Waynesboro Police Department handbook, a child may be taken into custody by a law enforcement officer or duly authorized officer of the court if there are reasonable grounds to believe a child “is suffering from illness or injury or is in immediate danger from his or her surroundings and that his or her removal is necessary.”
Chief Burley, in a statement, said all certified personnel will be retrained on procedures for arrests when juveniles are present.
In Burke County, Capt. Randall Norman said, when such an incident arises, they often work with the parent that is being arrested to obtain necessary permission and contact information for a trusted and responsible party for the child to be in the custody of, such as family, parents or friends of the family. When the sheriff’s office is unable to make contact with a responsible party, the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services will be contacted.
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Columbia County Maj. Steve Morris said they would release the child to a family member or the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services. Morris said the child might be release to a non-family member at the parent’s request.
According to Richmond County Sheriff’s Office policy, an employee will care for all lost or abandoned children coming to their attention. In addition, deputies will, as soon as possible, turn over the child or children to the parents, guardians or to a juvenile authority.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Officer's probation, demotion not enough says Waynesboro family
