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MEAWW.COM / NEWS / CRIME & JUSTICE

Wisconsin woman arrested after she knelt on boy's neck and asked him 'do you want to die like George Floyd?'

She knelt for 48 seconds as the boy gasped for breath and told him, 'tell me you can't breathe'
PUBLISHED AUG 4, 2020
Keriann C Smith (Genoa City Police)
Keriann C Smith (Genoa City Police)

GENOA CITY, WISCONSIN: A woman was arrested after she put her knee on a child's throat, asking the boy if he knew how George Floyd died: "Do you want to die just like him?" a criminal complaint states. The complaint stated that when Genoa City police officers arrived at a home on June 20, the woman, Keriann C Smith, told them: "Please take them. I don’t want them anymore." She was reportedly was referring to a boy and a girl whose relationship has not yet been established with the woman. 

Police officers, who responded to a complaint, found a boy and a girl — who have not been identified — with visible injuries. The boy had reportedly called authorities, saying Smith was attempting to get into the room he was in. The girl also took a video of the incident showing Smith's knee on the boy's neck for 48 seconds. Smith, according to the complaint, said: "Tell me you can’t breathe." When Smith said that, the boy was seen on video gasping for air and coughing. When authorities asked if the kneeling hurt, the boy said: "Yes, and she has done it before." The girl also told the officers that the woman had choked her before too, Gazetteextra reported. 

The complaint also stated that the boy had a large red mark on his neck and a bite mark on his left shoulder. The girl reportedly also had a large red mark on the left side of her face. The girl had told authorities that the mark was because Smith has punched her in the face while she was attempting to break the fight. The woman, however, told police that she was attempting to take the boy's phone away before they got into a confrontation. 

Prosecutors from Walworth County, nearly a month later, charged Smith with physical abuse of a child intentionally causing bodily harm, strangulation and suffocation, misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct. The woman was also charged with possession of marijuana, an illegally-obtained prescription and drug paraphernalia.

Reports also state that as Smith was taken into a squad car by police, the girl told authorities that the woman had marijuana in the home. When they searched the house, they found a bag of marijuana and 14 trazodone pills. Court records show that a Walworth County judge ordered a $1,000 cash bond for Smith on June 22. She was set to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on August 3. 

Smith, in the kneeling video, was referring to George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died in police custody on May 25. Four Minneapolis police officers involved in Floyd's brutal death were fired on May 26 after a video of the incident went viral on social media. The footage showed Floyd pleading with officers as one of them, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck while the 46-year-old told them to let him stand because he could not breathe. The clip showed Floyd pleading with the officer to allow him to breathe and a few minutes later he became unconscious. Floyd's death has sparked massive protests and unrest in Minneapolis and across the country.

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