A judge has sentenced a woman accused of injuring Columbia County deputy jailers after being taken into custody for abandoning her toddler at a grocery shop in 2024.
Samantha Williams, 36, was sentenced by Judge J. Grady Blanchard of Columbia County Superior Court last week.
Blanchard declined to sentence Williams under Georgia’s First Offender Act, instead ordering her to serve the first 20 years in jail, followed by two years on probation.
Williams was initially charged with reckless behavior.
According to the complaint, Williams ran through the cell door while the jailers attempted to detain her.
Officials claim Williams resisted the jailers. Williams knocked Dodgen down, causing her head to contact the ground.
According to the report, Dodgen was knocked unconscious.
She was taken to Doctors Hospital, where medical personnel informed authorities she had sustained critical injuries.
Officials said Dodgen has been with the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office for eight years.
Reggie Crite, a deputy jailer, was also hurt during the altercation. According to officials, he suffered an ankle injury.
Crite has been employed with the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office for four years.
Williams was detained after reportedly leaving her 12-year-old daughter alone in an Evans store, according to officials.
Columbia County deputies say they responded to Publix at 5119 Washington Road in response to a missing person report.
According to the incident report, the store manager told investigators that a juvenile approached him searching for her mother, Williams.
According to the report, the child informed officers that while in the store, Williams urged her to sit down and stated that “someone was trying to kill her.”
According to deputies, Williams then left the store without telling the daughter.
Around 6:30 p.m., deputies reported Williams missing, stating that she told her daughter she was going to get ice cream but never returned.
Her car was recovered in the parking lot, and she was caught on camera at a Circle K on Furys Ferry and Evans-to-Locks Road, when she got into an Uber and drove to South Carolina.
Deputies said Williams was discovered in a car across the street from Publix at a Parker’s Kitchen shortly before midnight and detained.
Deputies say Williams admitted to leaving her kid at the store, claiming she hoped the girl’s grandfather would pick her up.
According to the incident report, deputies met with the girl’s grandmother, who said Williams did not use drugs or have any mental health issues.
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