LaGrange officer back to work after administrative leave

Published 6:00 pm Thursday, February 13, 2020

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A LaGrange police officer is back to work after she was placed on administrative leave in January following a shooting incident at the Tall Pines Apartment Complex.

At about 1:15 a.m. on Jan. 20, LaGrange officer Meghan Keith arrived at the complex for an unknown problem. According to police documents, when she arrived on the scene, she heard an argument between two individuals. Within seconds, she observed Patrick Reeves, 19, shoot a male, identified as 29-year-old Jazmen Glanton. Seconds after the shooting, Keith yelled for the shooter to put down the weapon and then fired a shot, striking the shooter in the arm.

In the LaGrange Police Department’s administrative review completed by Lt. Dale Strickland, he wrote that he found Keith’s response to aggression complies with the tenets of department policy. Additionally, Keith received a letter from Police Chief Lou Dekmar reinstating her to regular duty state on Feb. 6. Keith was also assessed by a department psychologist.

Dekmar has said in the past that any time there is an officer-involved shooting, the officer is placed on administrative leave and an internal administrative investigation is triggered.

During the Jan. 20 incident, Reeves was taken to a local hospital and then later flown to Atlanta for non-life-threatening injuries. Glanton was later pronounced deceased from the gunshot wound at a hospital later that day.

According to police reports, the incident between Glanton and Reeves stemmed from a domestic altercation between Glanton and Reeves’ sister.

The administrative review report by Strickland revealed an interview with Reeves on Jan. 31, where he told police that he was in another apartment when he heard screaming from his apartment, where his sister lived.

When he got to the apartment, his sister told him to call police. After calling 911, he got into an altercation with Glanton over an alleged physical altercation.

According to the review, during the fight between Glanton and Reeves, a gun fell on the ground and Reeves picked it up and tried to leave the residence with his sister, but Glanton followed them. Reeves said he pointed the gun at Glanton and told him to stop approaching him, but Glanton failed to stop, and Reeves told police he fired the gun and immediately heard the officer say freeze. 

The Georgia Bureau of Investigations took over the criminal aspect of the case due to the officer-involved nature. As of Wednesday, Reeves is not in custody and is not facing charges, according to GBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jeremy Dockins. He said the GBI file will be disseminated to the district attorney’s office soon.