WHITEHALL, Ohio -- An elderly woman with a weapon was taken to the ground by a Whitehall officer -- and the incident was caught on tape.
Now, video of the incident has created new problems for the local police department as citizens from around the country question the force used.
The cell phone video ended up on YouTube -- and the local police department said it has changed the way they work, NBC 4's Mike Bowersock reported.
Virginia Dotson was wandering the Walmart parking lot at 3657 E. Main St. the evening of Aug. 1 with a steak knife. She was telling strangers she would cut them and already had cut herself.
Whitehall officers were called to the scene, but some witnesses said officers used too much force in subduing the woman.
Dotson’s daughter said Dotson found a steak knife in the vehicle, cut herself out of her seat belt and took the knife with her while searching for her daughter.
Dotson, who is believed to be 84 years old, was treated and released from Mount Carmel Medical Center for the head injuries she received when she was taken to the ground.
All seemed said and done with the incident until the video hit YouTube.
Now, Whitehall police are receiving phone calls from around the nation -- even though there was little outrage in Central Ohio when the incident occurred.
"We've had people from Hollywood calling. We've had people from St. Louis, Houston, New York," said Whitehall Police Chief Richard Zitzke.
Zitzke estimates the department has received between 100 and 150 calls, some which tied up the phone line for an hour.
"We've had one or two people that just called and yelled and hung up the phone. We've had actually some death threats towards the officer," he said.
Zitzke said the phone calls have started to tax the department's resources, but officers have stayed on the phone with some callers to explain the situation.
"Other than all the problems from YouTube, we're pretty happy that it was actually videotaped because that substantiates in our mind what the officer did and gave us a pretty clear indication right away that everything was just about as good as it could have gone," Zitzke said.
Dotson was not charged with any crime.
Wednesday morning, The Fraternal Order of Police, Capital City Lodge 9, announced it supports the actions taken by Officer Scott, adding that she acted in accordance with her training and within policy.
Click here to watch Brown's video on YouTube. It does contain profanity.
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