Authorities announced Tuesday that three former Georgia sheriff’s deputies had been detained and accused of assaulting a Black prisoner in a September incident that was caught on camera and “shocked the conscience.”
Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Michael Register reported that Mason Garrick, 23, Braxton Massey, 21, and Ryan Biegel, 24, had been detained and were being held on charges of violence and breaking the oath of office.
Before their capture, they had already been let go by the Camden County Sheriff’s Office.
Between law enforcement and the communities we serve, there is a precious and precarious relationship, Register told reporters. “This trust must be safeguarded and maintained.”
Online records indicate that all three have been booked at the Camden County Public Safety Complex. Each of them is being jailed under a $10,000 bond. They didn’t have access to any attorney information.
The security video of the beating, according to Register, disturbed him.
The GBI director said, “I suppose that’s why we’re standing here,” when asked whether the jailers had behaved unlawfully.
As a citizen, Register’s response was similar to everyone else’s: it shocked his conscience.
“When you consider the initial events that took place, I believe our investigation to date and the district attorney believed that there was probable cause to make an arrest on three of the people for violence and breach of oath of office.”
The arrests came a week after Jarrett Hobbs’ attorneys made multiple videos of deputies they claimed had beaten him on September 3 at the Camden County Jail in Woodbine public.
Hobbs, 41, of Greensboro, North Carolina, was imprisoned for both traffic violations and drug possession. Attorney Harry Daniels said that his client requested to be placed in protective custody because he was having a “psychological episode.”
Daniels stated last week that the deputies “jumped him and battered and kicked him savagely like a bunch of dangerous thugs” rather than protecting the man.
The footage appeared to show the deputies punching Hobbs, dragging him from his cell, slamming him against a wall, and repeatedly kicking him. Daniels claimed that during the assault, one of Hobbs’ dreadlocks was torn off his head.
It’s unclear exactly what occurred prior to the videos. According to federal court records from last month, Hobbs allegedly kicked his cell door and defied orders from the deputies to stop. After the officers entered the cell, it was claimed that Hobbs “tensed up, pulled away, and a physical altercation… occurred.”
The report also said that Hobbs punched a deputy in the face and another in the side of the head after being struck in the head by one of them. According to the court document, one of the deputies suffered from a broken hand and a bruised eye.
Daniels stated to Atlanta’s NBC station WXIA that his client would have been justified in retaliating if attacked unjustly. He claimed that as the deputy swung at Hobbs, he punched a wall, breaking his hand.
Due to the occurrence, two independent investigations were opened by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the sheriff’s office.
Arrests are a “step toward justice,” according to Daniels, but convictions and imprisonment are the ultimate acts.
