After knocking on the office door during the signing of SB 202 by Kemp – an electoral reform project – Cannon is seen being taken by several officers with their hands cuffed behind their backs.
In a statement late on Thursday, the Georgia State Patrol said that at 6:33 pm, Cannon “was knocking on the door of the Governor’s Office” and, when he said to stop, went to the door of the Governor’s Ceremonial Office marked with a “Staff Only” sign and knocked on the door.
After receiving two orders to stop knocking on the door due to the press conference taking place inside, and twice to warn that she would be arrested if she didn’t stop, “Rep. Cannon refused to stop knocking. Rep. Cannon was put in prison and escorted out of the Capitol, “according to the statement. She was taken to Fulton County Prison and later released Thursday night.
Cannon faces two criminal charges – criminal obstruction and preventing or interrupting the general assembly session, according to an arrest statement seen by CNN. The statement states that Cannon was accused of interrupting the General Assembly session because she “did it consciously and intentionally, knocking on the governor’s door during the singing session. [sic] one account.”
The arrest statement on the charge of criminal obstruction said that she “intentionally prevented police officer E. Dorval and police officer G. Sanchez from Capitol PD, a police officer in lawful discharge or in the official functions of the police officer for the use of threats of violence, violence against person of the said police officer when stepping on LT Langford’s foot three times during the arrest and while she was escorted off the property. The accused continued to kick LT Langford with his heels. “
Lawyer Gerald Griggs told CNN that he is representing Cannon. Griggs said he was in Fulton County Prison working to free Cannon after she was arrested on charges of obstruction.
“We are currently getting her out of prison. We are collecting information about the case as well. There are several videos and we are in contact with the prosecutor,” Griggs told CNN.
In the video, other people on Capitol Hill with Cannon can be heard asking officers, “Why are you arresting her?”
CNN contacted Kemp’s office for comment.
Cannon’s arrest came after Kemp signed into law the broad election bill on Thursday, which made Georgia the first state of presidential battle to impose new voting restrictions after President Joe Biden’s victory in that country. The new law imposes new voter identification requirements for absentee ballots, empowers state officials to take over local ballot boxes, limits the use of ballot boxes and makes it a crime to approach voters in line to give them food and water.
Republicans considered the measure, dubbed the Electoral Integrity Act of 2021, necessary to boost confidence in the elections after former President Donald Trump made repeated and baseless allegations of fraud. Kemp predicted on Thursday that critics of the new law “will threaten, boycott, prosecute, demonize and join their friends in the national media to call me everything in the book”.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Kelly Mena, Fredreka Schouten and Kendall Trammell contributed to this report.