Stand up. >> You cannot resist. >> Roll over. >> Resist. Okay. Don't make this any worse than you've already made it. >> Come on. >> You can hang out there. That's fine. >> She wants to do that. That's That's her thing, okay? It's a conditional charge. Resisting officer. >> An 81-year-old woman had just been punched in the face [music] at an airport gate. A second woman had been spat on, and when officers found the person who did it, they did something that surprises a lot of people. They went back and asked those two victims whether they wanted to press charges. Both of them said no. So, she was taken into custody on a single misdemeanor. One charge. That was the whole thing. What happened over the next 10 minutes, all of it on body camera, turned that one charge into five. Nashville International Airport, September 21st, 2023. Airport police get a service call about a fight at a restaurant in the concourse. But when officers arrive, what they find is much bigger than a restaurant argument. Witnesses describe a woman moving through the terminal, knocking merchandise off shelves at multiple businesses. And then, at one of the gates, it turned physical. An 81-year-old woman struck in the face with a cell phone held in a closed fist. A quarter-inch laceration above her eye. Bruising down the side of her face. >> Okay. If Okay. >> Hey, hey, what's going on? >> Hi. >> Hey. >> She has like all crazy lady assaulted. And both of them were and then knocked her with a cell phone. >> Okay, gate one. >> And then, according to witnesses, the same woman spat in a second woman's face. A group of travelers tried to contain her. She walked away back down into the terminal. And here's where this stops being a witness account and becomes a case because somebody had recorded it. Officers stand in the concourse and watch the whole thing play back. They can see her walking up to the 81-year-old. They can see the strike. They can see the second woman in pink getting spat on. They can see her knocking items off the counter just before it. >> [music] >> One officer asks the witness whether they can send the video to police. The answer is yes. >> Yes. >> Is that video something you're able to possibly send to us? >> Of course. This is her and then this is where she's got glasses on. And then you can see where she spits on this lady right here in the pink. And you can't tell right here. I mean that's right. >> Your own momma getting hit, you know, it's like >> Yeah. >> It makes me sick. >> Yeah. >> I was too scared. I would have gone after her but I was too scared. She was like >> I thought she was coming towards me when she saw my phone. >> She definitely didn't go after the accident. >> So by the time officers go looking for her, they aren't relying on anybody's memory. They've watched it. Officers search the terminal for about 10 minutes. Witnesses said she looked like she was trying to find somewhere to hide. >> I don't I see what it says. >> Anybody there? >> Okay, so I'll hear so that's Andrew Brennan b r e n n a n at >> Dianne >> financial backer. >> Got it. Thank you so much. >> They eventually find her sitting in a waiting area near one of the gates as if nothing had happened. And before they approach her officers do something worth pausing on. They go back to the victims the woman who'd been punched and the woman who'd been spat on and they ask whether they want to press charges. Both declined. An 81-year-old woman bleeding from a cut above her eye chose not to pursue it. That's mercy. That is somebody deciding not to make a stranger's worst day permanent. So, officers move in on a single count of disorderly conduct. Realistically, that's a citation, a night at most, and a court date. She could have walked out of that airport with almost nothing on her record. The officer identifies himself and asks her to stand up. She doesn't. He asks again and again. Then he asks her to put her hands behind her back. And he repeats that instruction more than a dozen times. >> Charges. >> Hi, ma'am. My name is Officer Lake with Airport Police. Need you to go ahead and stand up. Stand up, please. Ma'am, stand up. Put your hands behind your back. Stand up. >> You know I resist. >> Roll over. >> Resist. Okay. >> Now, you won't sit up in the chair. Let's get you sit up in the chair. Come on, stand up. >> She goes to the ground. Officers have to roll her onto her stomach to get the cuffs on. And you hear an officer say it out loud, almost matter-of-factly, "Additional charge, resisting an officer." That's the first one she added. The victims had already given her a way out, and she just closed it. >> Okay. Okay. All right. >> Just help me get me in the chair. Put me in the [ __ ] chair, [ __ ] >> Yeah, I understand that. I understand that, okay? Now, you can relax. >> Cuffed, she refuses to walk. Officers ask her to stand and walk to the patrol car. She won't. So, they bring a chair and start pushing her through the airport, through a public terminal, in front of every traveler at those gates. She asks what disorderly conduct actually means. The officer's answer is the only sarcasm in the entire recording, and honestly, after 10 minutes of this, it's a pretty restrained response. >> All right. >> Last thing I'm going to say is think about me when you see your mother. >> I'm going to have that. Okay, push me out. >> Where do I go? >> You sit in the back. >> I don't want to talk to her. I don't want to talk >> Wait, now I don't want her to touch me. >> What strikes me about this section is how consistently professional the officers stay. Nobody yells. Nobody escalates. They keep explaining, keep warning, >> [music] >> keep giving her chances to stop making it worse. Then, during the move to the car, she spits. An officer calls it second count of disorderly conduct, and spitting on an officer >> [music] >> isn't a minor thing in Tennessee. It becomes assault on a first responder. That's charge number four, and it's the one that changes the seriousness of this whole arrest patrol. >> Sit up straight. >> No, I don't want to hurt my hair. >> Ooh, my bad. >> You got to go. >> Up. No. >> At the patrol car, she's searched. Her main concern in that moment isn't the 81-year-old woman or the charges stacking up. It's her glasses. She tells officers they cost $400 and asks them not to break them. And there's one more. Inside the patrol car, she slips out of her handcuffs. Officers have to open the door, bring out leg restraints, hobbles, and secure her again. Even at that point, after everything, an officer is still offering her a deal. Still trying to de-escalate. Autumn Kathy, 26 years old, was charged [music] with elder abuse, assault on a first responder, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and vandalism. Bond was set at $12,000. She was arrested on one charge because two women she had just assaulted decided not to press any. 10 minutes later, she was facing five. Four of them she created herself on camera [music] after the mercy had already been offered. So, here's my question. Those two victims chose mercy, and it changed nothing because she couldn't stop. Was that mercy wasted, or is it still the right instinct even when the person doesn't deserve it? Tell me in the comments.