Ricky Coonrod
The Sheriff's Office is defending the arrest of the brother of City Councilwoman Demetrus Coonrod, while she has condemned it.
After being stopped by deputies on Monday, Ricky Coonrod began filming the arrest on Facebook Live. The video has since gone viral.
Deputies broke a window on the locked vehicle to get inside and used a Taser in subduing Coonrod.
Councilwoman Coonrod called the incident "deeply troubling" and said it left "significant emotional and physical impacts" on her brother.
She said, "In 2024, it is unacceptable that our black men, women and poor white people continue to fear for lives doing interactions with our police."
Councilwoman Coonrod said officers were laughing during the incident, which she called disrespectful. She said, "We have to put a stop to this."
She said she spoke with Chattanooga Police Chief Celeste Murphy and was insured that the city police were not involved, but the arrest was by Sheriff deputies and East Ridge Police.
She said her family plans to "take appropriate action" in connection with the incident.
Councilwoman Coonrod said, "This will be the last person in my family that they will raise their foot up to kick."
The Sheriff's Office gave this account:
On the evening of Monday, Jan. 22, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office narcotics detectives, while conducting an investigation, observed an individual making what appeared to be a narcotics transaction.
Narcotics detectives began to follow the vehicle the suspect was driving and observed him make two traffic violations. HCSO Patrol Deputies in the area also responded and observed the suspect vehicle, a black GMC Tahoe, on Germantown Road. As the patrol deputies followed the car, it was further observed that the tag on the suspect’s vehicle could not be read due to the fact the tag lights were not functioning.
Deputies initiated a traffic stop and the vehicle pulled into the Kanku Gas station located in the 3600 block of Brainerd Road. Deputies approached the vehicle and made contact with the driver, later identified as Ricky Coonrod. Coonrod provided deputies with his drivers license, but was not able to provide the vehicle registration or proof of insurance.
HCSO deputies gave Coonrod a lawful order to exit the vehicle, of which he refused multiple times. After numerous opportunities were given to Coonrod to exit the vehicle and deescalate the situation, he refused to follow the deputies’ lawful commands. At that time, deputies made the decision, after consultation with their supervisor, to use a glass break device to break the driver side window and remove the driver.
Coonrod continued to resist arrest and was removed by deputies from the vehicle. Once out of the vehicle, he continued to resist and was drive-stunned by a taser by an East Ridge Police Officer. Once the taser application was utilized, compliance was achieved and Coonrod was taken into custody without further incident.
A lawful search of Coonrod’s vehicle yielded $1,372 in multiple denominations and a small backpack that contained numerous individually sealed bags of what appeared to be marijuana.
He was charged with resisting arrest, possession of drugs for resale, and no working license plate lights on his vehicle.