Over the weekend, Chattooga County Sheriff Mark Schrader released a statement to the media regarding an incident that happened on May 16th on Stateline Road at Cloudland.  Christopher Cunningham, Jr. was severely injured after falling off a four-wheeler he was riding on the county road. 

The sheriff’s office, EMT’s and the Georgia State Patrol say that Cunningham was being combative with law enforcement officers and EMT, even biting one at one point during the incident.  Cunningham’s family maintains that law enforcement and EMT’s used excessive force.

The family is being represented by an attorney who called an Atlanta press conference regarding the incident late last week.  Local media in Chattooga County was not notified of the press conference.

Sheriff Schrader told WZQZ News that he had received open records requests about the incident prior to the Atlanta press conference, but did not release a statement about the incident until Saturday evening, after Atlanta news outlets had aired the story.

The sheriff says that his office is continuing an internal review to determine if deputies acted within department guidelines regarding force.