An Atlanta police officer who was recorded punching a man during an alleged drug arrest was suspended for 20 days without pay, the police department confirmed.
The suspension comes a week after a video was posted on social media of Officer Quinton Green punching Rickey Williams.
“The officer has accepted responsibility for his actions, and will receive a 20-day suspension,” Atlanta police Chief Erika Shields said in a statement released to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Further, the department will examine the practices of the unit as a whole, and ensure that adequate supervision is in place. Additional training will be required of all officers assigned to the zones who work in a plain clothes capacity to ensure that we are operating in a defensible space.”
Atlanta police did not say if this is the extent of Green’s reprimand, but confirmed the investigation is ongoing.
“When incidents such as these are brought to our attention, we have an obligation to review whether the use of force was reasonable by taking numerous factors into consideration,” Shields said in a release. “In this case, I believe the manner in which the incident unfolded was avoidable, as the officer was not alone and had appropriate backup, allowing him to take a different approach to the arrest. That being said, having served as a street-level cop, I know from experience that mistakes are made when split-second decisions are made.”
According to a police report filed by Green, he and two other officers approached Williams on the 40 block of Broad Street near Five Points after they believed he was “possibly preparing to smoke crack cocaine.”
When Williams was asked to put his hands behind his back, he “dropped to the ground and started swinging and kicking his arms wildly,” according to the report.
Officer Stephenson Camille then stunned Williams with his Taser, but when it had no effect, Green punched Williams twice in the rib cage.
In his report, Camille said he used the Taser because a crowd of up to 30 people were gathered and he wanted to control the situation.
However, one video posted online shows the two officers holding down Williams while Green punches him in the head three times and grabs him by the neck. A fourth officer was also on the scene.
Green wrote in the report that Williams “had a swollen eye, but it appeared to be an old injury” and that “there was not fresh bruising or scalping to the skin.” Grady Memorial Hospital personnel also told Green that Williams’ injuries didn’t look recent, the report states.
Once Williams was handcuffed, officers recovered steel wool, which Green wrote was used by crack cocaine users. No drug paraphernalia or illegal narcotics were recovered during the arrest.
Williams remained in the Fulton County jail Friday on a $3,000 bond. He faces only a charge of willful obstruction of officers.
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