More Details on Tuesday’s Alleged Kidnapping Incident at Toccoa Walmart

WLHR News reached out to Lavonia Police Chief Shane Edmisten and Hart County Sheriff Chief Investigator Captain Chris Carroll to get more details on the events of Tuesday evening that involved four law enforcement agencies from three counties including a response by Lavonia Police Chief Shane Edmisten to the allegations of alleged police brutality by one of the passengers in the vehicle.

According to Investigator Carroll, it started Tuesday afternoon when a man showed up at the Hart County Sheriff’s office saying that his ex-wife had been kidnapped and beaten up by her boyfriend.

“On June 11, 2024, just before 5:00 PM, a male came to the Hart County Sheriff’s Office to try and
get assistance in locating his ex-wife due to her possibly being held against her will,” Carroll said Wednesday. “The male stated that he had been getting calls from her phone and it appeared that she would lay the phone down because he could not get a response from her. The male stated he could hear another male making threats to her in the background. While deputies were speaking with the male and gathering information, he showed them text messages from the female telling him that they were at an address in Royston and that the male was going to kill her. The male advised deputies that he went to the address but was unable to
locate the female.”

Carroll said that while at the Sheriff’s Office, the male received a phone call from a Walmart number.

“When he answered the call, it was the female calling and trying to get him to come to Walmart in Toccoa and get her because the male had taken her phone and wouldn’t let her leave. She stated that her boyfriend was going to kill her,” Carroll explained.

Hart County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch then contacted Stephens County 911 to advise them of the situation due to the incident taking place in Toccoa.

From there, Toccoa Police arrived at the Walmart and cleared the store of customers and employees and then conducted a search but did not find the alleged kidnapper nor his victim, according to Toccoa Police Chief Jimmy Mize.

Mize identified the pair as 26-year-old Joshua Pearson of Lavonia and 31-year-old Candace Mitchell also of Lavonia.

Mize said they received a description of the vehicle the pair were in – a gray Toyota with a handicap tag.

A lookout was then placed on the vehicle which was believed to be headed back into Franklin County. At that point, Lavonia Police got involved along with Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies.

“The BOLO was relayed to Franklin County 911 by Stephens County 911. While on patrol, an alert uniformed Lavonia Police Officer encountered the vehicle in the area of Myrtle St in the City of Lavonia. The officer did confirm on the radio with Dispatch prior to the stop that a female in the vehicle was “being held against her will” and Dispatch confirmed the information. Three Lavonia officers were on scene with two Franklin County Sheriff’s Office deputies and a ‘felony stop’ was conducted,” Chief Edmisten said Wednesday.

Edmisten said he reviewed the officers’ body camera video and added the following:

“Officers removed the male driver from the vehicle and he was handcuffed and secured in a patrol vehicle by an officer. The front-seat female passenger was then removed and handcuffed by a deputy. The rear-seat passenger was then removed and handcuffed by an officer and secured in a patrol vehicle,” he continued. “After removing the front-seat passenger from the vehicle, she advised the deputy she had medical issues and the handcuffs were hurting her arms. The deputy immediately told her he was going to remove the cuffs but she needed to comply. The deputy then removed the cuffs and explained the quickly evolving emergency situation under investigation.”

Chief Edmisten added that after all parties were secured, Toccoa PD and Hart County Sheriff’s deputies also arrived on the scene in Lavonia and spoke with the alleged “victim” who apparently was not kidnapped and subsequently did not want to pursue any charges.

Meantime, the female passenger who was in the front seat of the vehicle later claimed police brutality and posted photos of bruises on her arms on social media. The woman said that despite telling officers she had medical issues they still used excessive force.
However, Chief Edmisten said the body cam video tells a different story.

“It was also determined there was no domestic relationship between the alleged victim and the other passengers in the vehicle. All parties were released from the scene and the front-seat passenger was checked by Franklin County EMS. The actions of the Lavonia Police Department officers have been reviewed via body and in-car cameras and no policies were violated and no excessive force was used by any officers involved,” he said.

WLHR News reached out to Chief Investigator Chris Carroll and he confirmed Chief Edmisten’s statement.

WLHR News is continuing to follow this story and will bring you more information as it becomes available.