HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — The former NFL player slammed to the ground during his arrest in Henry County is now filing a lawsuit, and the player and his lawyers are now accusing the county of a mass cover-up.
Video of Desmond Marrow's arrest, which happened in December 2017, went viral back in April. It shows three Henry County officers trying to cuff the former player. During the arrest, one officer can be seen lifting Marrow's right leg before throwing him to the ground. Another officer kneeling near Marrow's head grabs him by the throat, as he tells the officers he can't breathe.
The officers claim Marrow was resisting arrest, and they originally charged him with obstruction an officer and reckless driving.
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But in a Monday press conference, Marrow's lawyers accused Henry County government officials of hiding dashcam video showing part of the arrest, and witness tampering. Lawyers also say the Board of Commissioners knew about the arrest and helped cover it up.
"Everybody was involved," claimed attorney Chris L. Stewart. "We have emails where they are talking about, 'We hope this just goes away. We hope there is no protests or marches.' That's what they cared about."
Lawyers for Marrow said the D.A. dropped felony charges against him, but Henry County Solicitor Pam Bettis said Marrow could still face misdemeanor charges.
"It is clear to us that these sudden and curiously-timed charges are merely an attempt by Henry County officials to silence Mr. Marrow and his legal team," Stewart said.
Marrow said the arrest took a toll.
"Every time I see an officer, I have an anxiety attack, or my son wants to play with his cop cars and it's killing me, but he's having the time of his life and I can't even tell him what's going on," Marrow said.
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The officer seen choking Marrow was fired back in May. 11Alive reached out to Henry County government for a comment. In a statement, they declined to comment saying, "it is not the practice to comment on pending on ongoing litigation. However, once officials review the recently filed complaint, an appropriate response will be filed with the Court."
