Gwinnett Daily Post

Photo by Michael Buckelew

LAWRENCEVILLE -- A veteran Gwinnett County Police Department officer cleared for fatally shooting a Duluth woman and her daughter last summer has been placed on administrative duty after a weekend arrest on DUI charges.

A Georgia State Patrol trooper arrested Gwinnett police Officer Lyndsey Perry, 35, of Dacula, about 2:15 a.m. Saturday in Hall County after pulling her over for speeding and detecting an odor of alcohol, authorities said.

Perry was clocked driving a 2006 Jeep Wrangler, her personal vehicle, 58 mph in a 45 mph zone with one passenger in the vehicle, said GSP spokesman Gordy Wright. The traffic stop occurred on Ga. Highway 13 near Friendship Road.

Perry was charged with DUI and taken to the Hall County Sheriff's Department, where she refused a breathalyzer test, Wright said. Paperwork has been submitted to the state's Department of Driver Services to have Perry's license suspended, Wright said.

Perry posted $1,600 bond at 4:40 a.m. Saturday and was released from the Hall County Jail, a jail representative said.

Gwinnett police spokesman Officer Brian Kelly said Perry has been removed from active duty and assigned to administrative duty in light of the accusations.

She'll remain in that post until an internal investigation is complete and criminal proceedings against her have been resolved, Kelly said.

"Her status with the department will be reviewed as those two investigative functions conclude," Kelly said.

Perry, a 10-year department veteran, was cleared in December in the fatal shootings of Penny Schwartz, 51, and her mother, Barbara Baker, 75, after police were called to Baker's Duluth home July 21.

Police said Schwartz was suicidal and pointed a gun at the officer, prompting gunfire. Family members decried Perry's actions as excessive use of force.

A two-pronged internal investigation found otherwise.

"Given the circumstances (Perry) encountered, she was found to have acted within established policy and procedure," Kelly said Tuesday.

The case was probed by the Gwinnett police deadly force investigation team and the professional standards unit, which routinely conducts parallel investigations into deadly force incidents.