In the city of Atlanta, Piedmont Park is known as the premier recreation site and a gay cruising spot for late-night rendezvous. The Atlanta Police Department has taken a proactive role in making the park a safe space with foot patrols during the late-night hours. Over the weekend, an APD officer encountered a lewd act being performed by a man.
According to the police incident report, the officer states, “I allowed the male to get approximately 7 to 10 feet from me before I used my flashlight to shine it on the male. The male immediately fled on foot. I ran behind the male while yelling, ‘Police. Stop!’
However, the man kept running and the officer pursued in a foot chase that lasted a quarter of a mile. When the officer took the suspect into custody, the perpetrator of the lewd act requested to speak to the officer’s supervisor and stated a specific name. The officer told the suspect that the supervisor he named was not in charge of the area. According to the arresting officer, the suspect then asked to retrieve his identification from his car, a request the officer denied due to safety reasons.
Shockingly, upon being booked into the Atlanta city jail, the man identified himself as Dekalb County Sheriff Jeffrey Mann.
Sheriff Mann was able to bail out of jail within a few hours and then released a statement to local media that read “DeKalb County Sheriff Jeffrey L. Mann was arrested last night, May 6, 2017, by the City of Atlanta Police Department on charges of indecency and obstruction. He is working with City of Atlanta to clear these charges.”
Sheriff Mann also posted to WSB reporter Mark Winne’s Twitter account the following: “Sheriff Mann: “I am part of law enforcement… appreciate APD & the job that they do. Arrest a misunderstanding. Looking to clear my name.”
