THOMASTON, Ga. -- A Thomaston, Ga. man says video shows a controversial police officer abusing power.
The video shows Thomaston Police Officer Phillip Tobin making an arrest in a neighborhood convenience store. The problem is that Tobin was off-duty and the other man, Elron Holt, had done nothing wrong.
"He just put the handcuffs on me, I didn't know who he was at first," Holt said. "He didn't have a uniform or a badge.
Holt said that Tobin to put him in his personal vehicle.
"I thought he was kidnapping me. I really didn't know," Holt said. "He didn't explain [anything], he didn't tell me [anything], he just said, 'You know who I am, you know what it is.'"
Holt said the video doesn't show that Tobin had his arm around Holt's throat.
Wesley Trip says Tobin broke his ankle in 2009 outside the same store where Holt was arrested.
"I was searched eight times without finding anything," Trip said. "I don't know if he felt threatened – I really don't know what he felt. I asked him would he please remove his knees from my groin, because he's constantly putting his knee in my groin."
Community activists say Tobin is a one-man army, fighting on the wrong side of the law.
"If you look at the ratio of officers with injuries or anything like that – if you compare him to at least five to at least five other officers, there is no injury involved, there is no mistaken identity involved, there is no hospitalization involved," said SOT Rhondalynn Traylor of the Thomaston Improvement Association.
The city admits to 76 complaints against Tobin over his 14-year career and released documents detailing the allegations. They describe an aggressive officer who complainants say, comes unhinged when questioned or challenged by civilians.
About two dozen residents spoke out about Tobin on Tuesday night. Some wonder if Tobin is getting help from someone inside the system.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Thomaston Police Department are conducting separate investigations into Tobin. The GBI is looking into two recent complaints, while the Thomaston PD is going back several years.
