A pair of Georgia police officers recently became sickened after a suspect provided the duo with a substance on paper, making them experience dizziness and difficulty breathing.
After entering the Smyrna Police Department with the paperwork while complaining about Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA), 51-year-old Little Gaston Stone was charged with harming the police officers, who began suffering from “extreme fatigue, chest pain, chest tightness, dizziness, and difficulty breathing” after encountering the papers.
Stone then asked the officers for the Smyrna Police Chief’s business card and to provide the chief with some of the paperwork he brought to the station. The officers then grabbed two pieces of paper, with Stone fleeing the building. After just five minutes, they began experiencing respiratory issues.
The officers were soon taken to the hospital and were released, according to the New York Post.
Georgia police officers allegedly sickened by substance on papers, suspect arrested https://t.co/hNZ1o4BrKR pic.twitter.com/peGwzkLDHY
— New York Post (@nypost) February 10, 2024
“They’re here to protect and serve and for someone to have the confidence to come into a building like that and still do it, is devastating,” a person who works in Smyrna, Georgia, told Atlanta News First.
On Feb. 6, 2024, Stone was arrested and is currently being held in the Cobb County Jail without bond, according to inmate records.
In a statement to Fox News, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Atlanta, Georgia, said it is “assisting Smyrna with the testing of potential evidence” from the paperwork.
Stone reportedly pleaded guilty to making terror-related threats in October 2023 and was sentenced to one year of probation upon being indicted in 2021 for threatening to blow up a building.
The incident comes after Georgia Republicans passed legislation requiring cash bail for 30 different crimes, of which 18 are misdemeanors. The measure would limit charitable bail funds or individuals from bailing more than three criminals out of jail every year, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Georgia state Rep. Houston Gaines (R), a supporter of the legislation, said individuals let out of jail without bail are unlikely to show up for their court hearings compared to those who have paid to be released from behind bars.
“This legislation will make it clear that Georgia is not going down the path of failure seen by other states and communities that have eliminated cash bail,” Gaines said. “It’s been an unmitigated disaster.”
