GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A former officer is on trial accused of assaulting a man during a traffic stop in Gwinnett County. Now, the trial could pit one of his former co-workers against him.
Two Gwinnett officers lost their jobs over this and both were indicted. Robert McDonald is on trial arguing he's innocent of any wrongdoing. The other took a plea deal to avoid prison time but could also end up testifying later in this trial.
The case is connected to a traffic stop in April of 2017. It was captured on cell phone videos and sparked a considerable storm on social media once it was shared.
A police officer later identified as Michael Bongiovanni can be seen throwing his forearm into the driver's face as the driver holds his hands up as if he is surrendering.
The driver, Demetrius Hollins is then on the ground. Prosecutors said this is when McDonald ran up with his gun drawn and kicked the driver.
"Mr. Hollins, he was on the ground, he is in handcuffs, he is bleeding," Gwinnett County prosecutor Charissa Henrich said. "He had been kicked by this man, Robert McDonald, and then he has a gun put to his head. This is 4 o'clock in the afternoon at a busy intersection of Sugarloaf Parkway and Lawrenceville-Suwanee."
McDonald's defense attorney, however, said that the driver was injured from the blow to the head by Bongiovanni and that, as McDonald ran up, he spotted the driver on the ground but looking and leaning up. That's why, according to his attorney, McDonald tried pinning the driver to the ground.
"He goes up to put his foot on his shoulder and put him down and it ends up gliding across his cheek," attorney Walt Britt said. "Not a kick to the head."
McDonald's defense attorney argued that Bongiovanni also made up several details in police reports about what happened in an effort to throw McDonald under the bus.
The main witness on Friday was the man who recorded one of the cell phone videos. That video played in court giving the jury perhaps the clearest picture they will have of the traffic stop.
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