CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A Clayton County Sheriff's deputy has been placed on administrative leave after video surfaced showing the deputy apparently throwing an inmate head-first into a courthouse elevator.
Family said Marlon Brown has diagnosed schizophrenia and had been jailed after an episode.
In surveillance video dated June 16, 2107, images show Brown being escorted from the Clayton County Courthouse back to the Clayton County Jail. But it's what happened next that left Brown's family and attorney, Amber Reed, speechless.
Video shows the deputy seemingly lift Brown from the ground and tossing him into the elevator, sending Brown crashing face-first into an elevator wall.
"I am shocked, I'm appalled, I'm disturbed by it," Reed told 11Alive's La'Tasha Givens in an exclusive interview.
"I saw him walking and being lifted and thrown into an elevator head-first," she said. (Click here to watch the video.)
Brown's family is now suing the Sheriff's Office. Reed said the alleged excessive force left her client needing stitches, and more.
"Several broken teeth, cuts to the inside of his face and mouth that required stitches, back, neck, muscle strain issues he was hurt pretty extensively," she listed.
Brown's sister Ashley told 11Alive she feared the alleged abuse could continue away from the camera's view.
"It was just really scary because, like I feared for his safety," she explained. "I feared for what could happen to him there. I didn't want him to be abused."
Brown's attorney Reed said the officer, whom 11Alive is choosing not to name, has nearly a decade's-worth of complaints in his personnel file, now part of their lawsuit.
"It runs the gamut – excessive force – you can flip through it and its just pages and pages with pictures of people who've been assaulted by this officer," Reed claimed.
11Alive requested a copy of the personnel file but did not get one in time. However, 11Alive's La'Tasha Givens did view the documents, which supported those claims.
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Reed went on to say what makes the situation worse is that the initial report describes the incident as a "slip and fall" and that other senior officers signed off on the report, too. 11Alive obtained a copy of that report, which states that Brown was screaming profanities and refusing to get on the elevator.
The report then describes from the deputy's perspective, "I then placed my left hand in the center of his back and my right hand on his right shoulder and pushed inmate Brown to the elevator because he refused to walk or follow my instructions..."
"Once he was in motion at the elevator door he tripped over his shoes coming out of them along with a leg iron coming off, this caused him to steps forward and fall hitting is [sic] face on the elevator wall which was approximately 9 feet from the elevator entrance."
The deputy continued to say that when the inmate took "a fighting stance," he drew his taser, and the inmate complied with directions.
However, Reed disagrees with that narrative.
"I challenge anybody in law enforcement, I challenge the citizens of Georgia to look at that video and tell me that that's acceptable," Reed implored. "It make me wonder how many of these would have been validated had there been video."
In an emailed statement, the Sheriff's Office said, "After viewing this video tape, Sheriff Hill ordered the Deputy in question placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by the GBI."
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed they received a request from the Clayton County Sheriff's Office and will be looking further into the situation to see whether an investigation will be opened. On May 16, they confirmed that they would be proceeding with the investigation.
