2 women arrested at Dodge County Middle School following traffic dispute
By: Police say two women were arrested on the campus of Dodge County Middle School Monday afternoon after refusing to comply with officers’ commands.
According to the Eastman Police Department arrest report, released along with video footage in a Facebook post on Tuesday, the episode unfolded just before 3:30 p.m. during traffic control for school buses.
Eastman Police Chief Billy Cooper wrote in the police report he’d encountered a red van that failed to obey traffic directions. Chief Cooper says the driver, identified by police as 35-year-old Lakeshia Legreair, reportedly ignored commands to stop—first from a teacher and then the chief himself.
“I attempted to tell the driver to not come through this part of the parking lot during bus loading times but was unable to because the driver was irate yelling she had to get a car seat,” Chief Cooper wrote.
That’s when Chief Cooper says he got Legreair’s driver’s license and directed her to pull to the curb and wait for another officer.
Officer Joshua King then arrived on the scene. Officer King and Chief Cooper both wrote in the report that Legreair then exited her vehicle and began walking toward another vehicle. According to Officer King and Chief Cooper, Officer King told Legreair to stop and return to her vehicle, but she refused.
Officer King wrote that Legreair became loud as she continued to make her way to the other vehicle, and he told her she was going to be placed under arrest. According to Officer King and Chief Cooper, Officer King then grabbed her arm to place handcuffs on her, and she continued resisting. Chief Cooper says he then asked for Officer King’s taser and proceeded to use it on Legreair twice until she complied with their commands.
During the arrest, police say Legreair’s sister, 39-year-old Ladonna Legreair-Dean, approached the scene and did not obey police instructions to maintain distance. Legreair-Dean was also eventually placed under arrest and charged with obstruction of law enforcement officers.
Legreair was charged with failure to obey a person directing traffic and obstruction of law enforcement officers.
“In an effort to be transparent regarding the incident yesterday, the City of Eastman and Eastman Police Department would like to release the official police report as well as the video footage from both the Eastman Police Department and Dodge County Middle School,” Eastman Police wrote in the Facebook post on Tuesday.