DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — An Atlanta Veterans Affairs employee allegedly hit a visitor after an argument over a parking spot.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
This incident took place in a parking lot at the Atlanta VA Medical Center on Aug. 2.
RELATED STORIES:
The incident comes as another VA employee is already facing a six-count felony indictment for a separate attack at an Atlanta VA facility earlier this year.
- Man accused of attacking elderly VA patient indicted by grand jury, faces potential 20 years in jail
- Disturbing video shows Atlanta VA employee attack elderly Vietnam veteran
- Vietnam vet says VA employee attacked him inside metro clinic
Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray talked to VA officials, who confirmed that this most recent attack took place between a female employee and a male visitor at the Atlanta VA Medical Center in DeKalb County.
“After a verbal argument about a parking space, the employee struck the visitor,” officials said in a statement. “VA Police cited the employee with disorderly conduct, and leadership is pursuing appropriate administrative action.”
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
The VA is not releasing the name of the employee, but Gray has confirmed the employee is now the subject of an open criminal investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office.
In the earlier attack, patient advocate Lawrence Gaillard was indicted by the Fulton County grand jury on six charges for brutally beating an elderly veteran on April 28.
That attack was caught in a disturbing video in which Gaillard slams the veteran against a wall and then body slams him to the ground. The veteran had to be hospitalized.
After Channel 2 Action News aired the surveillance video of the attack we obtained through a Freedom of Information Act Request, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough promised that it was an isolated incident.
“This is not reflective of VA employees across the country at all,” McDonough said
Because this latest parking spot assault took place on federal property, the U.S. attorney will handle any criminal case.
When talking about Gaillard’s state court case, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told us VA facilities must be safe.
“You certainly think there are places in life you are safe, and one is the doctor’s office,” Willis said.
The VA told Gray that the employee is still on the job and has not been suspended.
This browser does not support the video element.