"Not how we treat our citizens," says police chief after grandmother wrestled to ground

Bartlesville Police Chief Kevin Ickleberry apologized Thursday for how his officers treated a 53-year-old woman who was wrestled to the ground earlier this month as she was driving her 3-year-old granddaughter to the emergency room.

In response to public outcry over body camera footage of Bartlesville police officers wrestling Misty Armitage to the ground, Ickleberry told the EE the incident shouldn't have happened.

"The incident, unfortunately, we can't take it back, but this is not how we treat our citizens and so we're going to improve moving forward," Ickleberry said.

On Sunday, April 14, Armitage said she was driving her granddaughter, who was "bleeding profusely from her nose" and "vomited blood," to the emergency room when BPD Officer Reed Blackard pulled her over.

The incident, which was partially caught on bodycam footage, ended with Armitage's arrest and being charged with attempting to elude a police officer and resisting arrest.

EMS treated the granddaughter for a nosebleed at the scene and another family member took her to the hospital. Armitage says her granddaughter saw a family doctor and has recovered.

Chief Ickleberry says they currently have three officers in an ABLE (Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement) training program in Edmond. The training was planned before the Sunday incident.

"It's a program for active bystandership in law enforcement, and it deals with the emotions of law enforcement," Ickleberry said. "When officers are dealing with tough situations, how we tap each other out to keep us from saying the wrong thing and doing the wrong thing."

There is no update about the officers involved in the incident.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Bartlesville police chief addresses outcry over arrest incident