When two teenage brothers got into an argument about what side of the car they would sit on as they were leaving a go-kart facility with their mother, they didn’t expect the police to intervene.
The family from Cumming has accused a Roswell police officer of excessive force during the incident at Andretti Indoor Karting and Games in December, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Officer Kenneth Robinson was sitting outside the facility when he saw one of the brothers, a 19-year-old, shove his younger brother. At that point, he allegedly got into the family’s SUV and forcefully put the boy’s arm behind his back, according to his mother, Susan Will.
"I politely asked him, I said I appreciate your attentiveness, but please let go of my son's arm. The boys are just having an argument," Will told Channel 2.
A police investigation revealed the officer never turned on his body camera, which is required by the department, or filed a report, according to internal documents obtained by Channel 2. That earned the officer a reprimand.
Will said his superiors didn’t go far enough.
She filed a complaint accusing Robinson of using excessive force. She told Channel 2 that the next morning, her son woke up in “extreme pain” and that the doctor told them it was likely a torn rotator or labrum and he would need an MRI. She wants the city to pay for the medical bills.
The lack of video evidence led to Robinson, and a sergeant who was his supervisor, being cleared of allegations of excessive force by the department.
According to internal documents, Robinson told his superiors that “he did not know what was going on and that all he knew was that he saw the male assaulting another in the car and that they were disturbing the peace."
Will thinks Robinson got a “free pass,” Channel 2 reported.
In the time since the incident, Robinson and the sergeant resigned for personal reasons, Channel 2 reported.
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