GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — In 2021, Angelo Black spent five days in the hospital with a head injury and brain damage.
A new lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Northern Georgia this week alleges a former Gwinnett Police officer is responsible for those injuries.
"The officer went above and beyond to tase him in midair and risk ending his life," attorney Reginald Greene said. "His Fourth Amendment rights were violated when the police used excessive force to apprehend him."
Greene said Black was a passenger in a car that got pulled over for a busted taillight in October 2021. Body camera video shows police handcuffing the driver and then asking Black to step out of the car too.
"That's when things went... terribly, terribly wrong... they attempted to pat him down and he got nervous and took off running," Greene said. "When he took off running, there was an uneven parking deck and so he attempted to jump from the high level to the low level."
Greene said Black was tased while jumping — which resulted in severe head injuries.
"At that point, he was disabled, unable to brace himself for a fall and he fell on his face, fractured his head and suffered serious injuries," Greene said. "He's been suffering. And not only that, he was incarcerated as a result, so he went from the hospital to incarceration."
Gwinnett County jail records show Black has been incarcerated since October 26, 2021. He's accused of trafficking between 28 and 200 grams of cocaine, willfully obstructing law enforcement and possession of a firearm.
"Our biggest concern is not necessarily the fact that he is or isn't in jail," Greene said. "The biggest issue is the taser becomes deadly force when it's used in this manner."
In a statement, Gwinnett County said it's aware of the lawsuit filed against its former officer in his individual capacity.
"While we are unable to provide any comment on the specific details of this pending litigation at this time, Gwinnett County takes all allegations of misconduct seriously, particularly those involving public safety, and will respond to these allegations appropriately," the county said.
Greene hopes that will include more training and supervision of its officers.
"We don't ever want this to happen again," he said. "There was an unnecessary use of force and it caused this man severe injuries."