The Lima chapter of the NAACP held a news conference today in light of an incident over the weekend at the St. Gerard Festival.
The news conference was held so Ashley Hardy could tell her side of an incident that occurred Saturday evening that ended with a Lima police officer tasing Hardy. She said the incident began when she was verbally disciplining her children when a festival employee said she was being inappropriate. The NAACP has demanded an outside investigation into the officer involved, Sgt. Nick Hart. Chief Kevin Martin has said an investigation is underway by the Lima Law Department.
"The way that I discipline my kids may not be the same way that other people discipline their kids. I have my own way of disciplining my kids. I guess the way that I was talking to him, he felt the need that it was inappropriate to be talking that kind of way to kids but that's the way I discipline my kids," explained Hardy.
Martin says Sgt. Hart has not been in trouble for using excessive force in the past.
"If it's not appropriate under those circumstances or under those conditions in which it was used, then appropriate action will be taken to correct that situation. If the use of force is determined to be appropriate, however, we're not going to discipline Sgt. Hart just because there might be a public demand for it," said Chief Martin.
Martin said the investigation will take a few weeks.
The incident was discussed also at Monday night's Lima Council meeting.
