MACON COUNTY, Ga. — Jeffery Canady is running for Macon County Sheriff, but he's been off the ballot, and then back on again.
Last month, the Macon County Board of Elections took Canady off the ballot.
That's because a state agency pulled Canady's certification as a Georgia law officer over a video that shows him allegedly assaulting a student. That was in 2019, when Canady was a school resource officer.
Canady pleaded guilty two years ago to using excessive force on a student inside a Macon County high school building.
The video shows a student touching Canady, who then grabs the student, pushes and slams her against the wall and holds her there. Then, he throws her down to the ground. The student then gets up and they walk down the hall.
After the board of elections voted last month, Canady's attorney asked them to reconsider - and they did. They decided to reinstate him as a candidate.
13WMAZ asked Canady about the video. He said it happened "five years ago" and he didn't know why it was surfacing now. He had no other comment. We reached out to his attorney and haven't heard back.
13WMAZ also spoke with several people who said they had seen the video. Some defended Canady in the video, and some defended the student. Most of them did not want to be named, because they said they're too close to Canady.
We did catch up with one of Canady's cousins, Helen Journey-Walters.
"We all can come with our own opinions from what we can gather," she said.
Journey-Walters said she saw the video on her cell-phone, and it's been circulating around town on Facebook.
"I've worked with kids with all types of behavior issues. And just knowing how kids' behavior can lead them to do certain things," she said.
She said people shouldn't jump to conclusions about Canady, because the video doesn't answer a lot of questions. It's lacking audio, and she said we don't know the full story because the video doesn't show what leads up to the altercation.
We also gave Canady's opponent, Richard Martin, a chance to speak on this video. Like Canady, Martin said he has no comment.
Yesterday, his campaign posted on Facebook that his heart aches for Macon County and to please pray for the community.