Isaac Dion McPherson of Decatur punched a Georgia State Patrol trooper right in the face after the officer stopped to help a woman outside a Family Dollar in northwest Atlanta. The whole thing started on June 20 around 7:16 p.m. when the trooper was driving on U.S. 78. A distressed woman flagged him down and said a man had hit her in the back of the head after shoplifting from the store at 824 Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway. She had already called 911 but no one showed up yet.
The trooper headed south on Paines Avenue and spotted a man matching the description walking in the middle of the road with a shopping cart. Something hard swung near the man’s right thigh. The officer told him to stop. The man kept walking around the patrol car instead. When he got to the driver’s side window he suddenly reached in and started throwing punches at the trooper’s face.
The trooper fought back and warned he would use his Taser. McPherson scratched him and grabbed for the Taser. It fell inside the car. The officer got out and pulled his service weapon while still giving commands. McPherson just walked away down the street. At one point he shook a construction structure on a building while the trooper stood underneath it. Then he climbed a fence and vanished into a ditch full of bushes.
Atlanta police found him later near Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard and North Avenue. They arrested the 51-year-old. The object by his thigh turned out to be a ball of broken bottle glass with sharp edges sticking out. Officers also learned he was wanted in Fulton County for aggravated assault and robbery by force. He was on probation too. Back at the Family Dollar the security guard identified him as the same man who attacked her earlier.
The trooper ended up with a bruise on his jaw, bleeding from the back of his head, and a cut under his right ear. Warrants charged McPherson with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and felony obstruction.
After the arrest the trooper took McPherson to Fulton County Jail around 8 p.m. Jail staff refused to take him about 37 minutes later. McPherson started shaking while paperwork was being done. Staff thought he might be having a medical emergency. The trooper called for paramedics instead of leaving right away. They showed up around 9:23 p.m. and took him to Grady Memorial Hospital. Hospital workers noted problems with his walking and behavior. He was admitted the next morning.
The video of the fight only hit social media months later and got a lot of attention. The police report shows the real timeline and all the details that happened that June night in Atlanta.
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