Attorneys call for Justice Department to investigate jail beating by Georgia deputies
New video with sound shows Black prisoner beaten by several deputies
Attorneys and civil rights activists held a news conference to discuss the now viral video that was taken inside a Camden County Detention Center. FOX 5 Atlanta is told the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has launched an investigation.
CAMDEN COUNTY, Ga. - Attorneys for a Georgia jail detainee recorded by security cameras being repeatedly punched by guards are asking the Department of Justice to investigate his beating.
Jarrett Hobbs, a 41-year-old Black man from North Carolina, was booked into the Camden County jail in coastal Georgia on Sept. 3 on traffic violation and drug possession charges. Security video from the same night shows Hobbs standing alone in his cell before five guards rush in and surround him. At least three deputies can be seen landing punches before Hobbs gets dragged from the cell and hurled against a wall.
"There is no way in hell that anybody should be beaten the way this man was beaten," Harry Daniels, an attorney for the detainee, told reporters at a press conference. "I don’t care what he did. I don’t care if he knocked the damn door down. You don’t beat a person like that."
Additional footage shows deputy appearing to strap Hobbs into a restraint chair after the beating and not providing medical aid.
Jail officials say Hobbs was repeatedly kicking his cell door and refused orders to stop.
Records show Hobbs was charged afterward with aggravated battery, simple assault and obstruction of law enforcement officers.
Camden County Sheriff Jim Proctor, who oversees the jail, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation have announced they’re conducting separate investigations.
Hobbs’ attorneys are questioning why the sheriff didn’t investigate sooner, considering the incident involving Hobbs happened more than two months ago.
Investigation into Georgia jailers shown in video punching detainee
An attorney for the detainee, 41-year-old Jarrett Hobbs, released the video Monday. Civil rights attorney Harry Daniels said authorities should pursue criminal charges against the sheriff’s deputies in Camden County who swarmed Hobbs, who is Black, after he was booked for traffic violations and drug possession charges Sept. 3.
Capt. Larry Bruce, the sheriff’s spokesman, has declined to answer questions about the timing of the internal investigation. Bruce told FOX 5 that the officers involved were placed on administrative duty in a "non-law enforcement involvement" so that they could be available to be interviewed by investigators.
The sheriff’s office has not released the names or races of the deputies involved.
"The two independent investigations limit comment for now from the Sheriff’s Office," Bruce said in an email.
Jail records show Hobbs, of Greensboro, North Carolina, was arrested Sept. 3 in coastal Camden County, about 100 miles south of Savannah. He was initially booked on charges of speeding, driving on a suspended or revoked license and possessing an illegal drug.
Daniels said Hobbs would have been justified to fight back against guards attacking him unlawfully. He said the guard with the broken hand injured himself by punching a wall as he swung at Hobbs.
Court records show a federal judge in North Carolina revoked Hobbs’ probation for a 2014 federal criminal conviction on Nov. 7 after finding he had violated the terms of his supervised release. However, the court dismissed alleged probation violations based on the struggle with jailers in Georgia. The court record doesn’t say why.
Daniels said he obtained the video after it was submitted as evidence in the federal probation case. He said Hobbs remains in custody in North Carolina.
"The physical wounds have healed the best they can," Daniels said. "But mentally, no. He thought he was going to die."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.