ATLANTA — Three days after 11Alive broke the story of a heated confrontation between two actresses and an Atlanta Police officer at a local restaurant, it's still one of the top trending stories on 11Alive.com.
On Mother's Day, May 13, Brittany Marie Lucio, Asia'h Sharrell Epperson and Erica Walker said they walked into the Houston's restaurant on Peachtree Street after the business had closed and asked to go to the bathroom. The women said they were there to meet friends who were still dining inside the restaurant and were given permission to be there.
After 10 minutes, though, a police report from the Atlanta Police Department indicates staff asked the women to leave multiple times. When they refused, staff called police.
That's where the stories quickly diverge however.
The police report states the officer's three requests for the women to leave the bathroom went unheeded, and he tried to escort them out. The women, however claim the officer manhandled them when he tried to get them outside the restaurant.
A viral cell phone video shows part of an altercation between the Atlanta officer and the women, two of whom have acting credits to their names. The women were arrested after the scuffle.
Now, one of the actresses at the center of the incident, Asia'h Epperson, is speaking publicly for the first time.
"There was no reason for that man to come into that women's restroom and use excessive physical force, and shove them out the door into the bushes," said Epperson, a 2008 American Idol contestant with other acting credits to her name.
In an exclusive interview with 11Alive's Faith Abubey, she asked Epperson why she and her friends didn't just leave when the officer asked for them to leave.
"Those (statements in the police report) were false statements," Epperson asserted. "We were never asked to leave."
Epperson said the officer didn't appear to make it clear that there was ever even an issue.
"He went in and did his thing. There was no conversation. There was no, 'Ladies. What are you doing? You're taking too long. Can you leave? Can you finish your conversation outside'," she listed. "None of that."
When asked why they were in the bathroom so long, Epperson explained, "It's three women, you do what girls do. I mean, you take pictures, you call the Uber, you freshen up your makeup, maybe put on some deodorant. You go to the restroom. I mean, if one of us is sick and it needed to take 13 minutes, it needed to take 13 minutes."
Epperson, who had a previous arrest related to an incident that happened also in the bathroom of a L.A. nightclub, told 11Alive she believes the officer needs to be reprimanded. When questioned about the officer's account that he was hit by one of the women, Epperson said, "I don't know anything about that. I don't know anything about an officer being hit."
11Alive asked whether Epperson and her friends would take any responsibility for how the situation unfolded. She replied no.
"I mean, the responsibility is, we thought Houston's was a safe place for three young women to go at 10 o'clock at night to call an Uber and use the restroom."
The Atlanta Police Department told 11Alive after they were made of the incident they would be looking into what unfolded. 11Alive looking up the record for the officer in question. He had no previous arrests.
The restaurant also issued a statement after the incident backing up their staff.
PHOTOS | Injuries from Houston's arrest
