If anyone needs proof that emotions run high in juvenile court, take a look at the video (below) from Augusta, released by the Richmond County Sheriff’s Department.
A fight erupted inside the courtroom on Wednesday afternoon, when an officer tried to put handcuffs on a teenage boy. The teen resisted and tried to leave. The boy’s grandmother, identified as Dora Ward, rushed up and grabbed the officer around the neck. According to an account in the August Chronicle, the officer was getting choked. Another officer tackled the woman and pushed her to the floor.
Ward and her grandson were both arrested for Obstruction of an Officer. What made this situation particularly tense: Ward is the mother of Justin Elmore, who was shot and killed by two Richmond County deputies in 2008, after he tried to drive away from a traffic stop.
Watch the incident on surveillance video, released Friday.