Park Cannon: Officer who arrested Georgia lawmaker for knocking on door says he feared repeat of Capitol riot

The officer who arrested a Georgia lawmaker protesting the signing of a sweeping Republican-sponsored election bill has said the incident reminded him of the 6 January insurrection on the US Capitol.

Lieutenant GD Langford said in a 13-page incident report obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the events of 6 January 2021 in Washington, DC, “were in the back of my mind”, during the confrontation.

“I didn’t want the protesters to attempt to gain entry into a secure part of the Capitol,” the lieutenant reportedly wrote. “I believed Cannon’s actions of obstructing law enforcement in front of agitated protesters to constitute a breach of the peace.”

Rep Park Cannon was arrested on Thursday after she knocked on Republican governor Brian Kemp’s statehouse office door to protest the signing of a new voting reform bill, which critics say is designed to make it harder for African Americans to vote.

Video of the incident shows Ms Cannon, who is Black, handcuffed with her arms behind her back while being taken away by police. She repeatedly identifies herself as a legislator and asks why she is being arrested.

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Mr Langford reportedly said in the document that he was worried that other protesters would have been “emboldened” to follow Ms Cannon’s lead if he didn’t arrest her after she refused his orders to stop knocking on the door.

The hundreds of rioters who stormed the Capitol on 6 January were pro-Trump supporters, many of whom were armed and were attempting to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 election.

Five people died in the riots on 6 January, including one Capitol Police officer who was beaten as he tried to ward off the crowds.

Ms Cannon, an Atlanta Democrat, who was released from custody on after her arrest on Thursday, said she did nothing to warrant the two felonies she faces after she knocked on the door outside Mr Kemp’s office.

The state’s youngest lawmaker was charged with felony obstruction of law enforcement, punishable by one to five years in prison, and with disrupting a session of the General Assembly.

NAACP Attorney Gerald Griggs has said that he intends to get Ms Cannon absolved of all charges. She said she had sustained bruises during the arrest.

According to The Journal, in the report, Mr Langford said he warned Ms Cannon she would be arrested if she continued to knock on the door before a crowd of other demonstrators gathered in the lobby “began to get louder as she was refusing to follow my commands”.

He claimed he attempted to de-escalate the situation but that Ms Cannon knocked again and that’s when he grabbed her right wrist and handcuffed her as she struggled with the help of another officer

“Rep Cannon continued to knock on the door and was instructed again to stop knocking on the door,” Lieutenant W Mark Riley, Georgia State Patrol’s public information director, previously told The Hill.

“She was advised that she was disturbing what was going on inside and if she did not stop, she would be placed under arrest.”

In a tweet on Friday, Ms Cannon thanked her supporters for their “love and support” adding: “My family, team and I are going to take some time to rest and refuel so that we may continue this fight, as this is just the beginning.”

The controversial legislation is one of a wave of GOP-backed election bills introduced in states around the country after former President Donald Trump stoked false fraud claims regarding the 2020 election.

The bill includes sweeping voting restrictions such as limiting the use of ballot drop boxes, cutting the time people have to request an absentee ballot, and setting photo ID requirements for absentee voting.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press