An eighty-five-year-old Trion woman was charged after video footage showed her vehicle hitting a pedestrian in the parking lot of Walmart in Trion of last week. 

According to a report from the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office, the pedestrian was walking into the store with her family and moved to the side to get out of the path of the vehicle driven by Mami Hartline.  The sheriff’s department maintains that video footage from Walmart surveillance shows Hartline swerving towards the family and striking a young female with the mirror of her vehicle.  After striking the pedestrian, the footage shows Hartline’s vehicle slow down and words were exchanged between the victim’s family members.  Hartline then parked the vehicle and went inside and started grocery shopping.

The victim’s family reported the incident to Walmart security who called the sheriff’s office.  When a deputy arrived he tracked down Hartline who was still grocery shopping.  While speaking with Hartline, she claimed the victim and her family were “in the middle of the road” and then just started yelling and cussing.  The deputy showed Hartline the video and Hartline said, “Well what if she reached out and slapped my mirror? I didn’t hit her”.

Hartline continued to argue with deputies throughout the interview and never admitted to any wrongdoing.

The deputy said the video footage clearly shows Hartline swerving towards the family and that is the duty of drivers to yield to pedestrians. Mrs. Hartline then reportedly told the Walmart security employee, “Well it’s not the first time I’ve hit a colored girl”.

The arresting deputy and a supervisor noted in their report that Hartline “either struck her intentionally or at the very least attempted to scare them and hit them in that process”.

Hartline was charged with simple battery and booked into the Chattooga County Jail.