A Fort Valley woman who posted on Facebook last year claiming to be a victim of police brutality pleaded guilty Wednesday to kicking one of the officers who booked her in jail, the Macon Telegraph reported.
India Margaret Martin, 22 years old at the time, posted on her public Facebook page photos of a gash on her head that had been sutured with staples on Sept. 25, 2017. The post has received almost 400 shares and over 375 comments as of Wednesday evening.
She wrote: “#policebrutality is NOT always white on black crime. I'm going to personally ask EVERYONE to share this post. This happened at the Fort Valley Police Department by an officer Jordan who LIED to my mother about how this occurred. He actually led her to believe that this happened at my home, which is NOT TRUE.”
The GBI was called to investigate, and agents found there wasn’t enough evidence to back up Martin’s claims in Dec. 2017, the Telegraph reported.
She was indicted March 6 of charges of battery and both felony and misdemeanor obstruction of an officer, the newspaper reported. The indictment, obtained by the Telegraph, said Martin kicked, fought and resisted detective Jerrell Smith, who was helping Lt. Antoinne Jordan book her in the Peach County jail.
She’s been sentenced to five years on probation, participation in alcohol and drug treatment and 120 hours of community service, the Telegraph reported.
Jordan resigned from the department after the incident, but when Public Safety Director Lawrence Spurgeon was asked if the resignation was related to Martin’s case, he told the Telegraph, “Not in particular.”
After Martin pleaded guilty, Spurgeon told the newspaper he’s “happy the truth came out.”
Because of Martin’s post, the officers were “convicted (and) found guilty before any investigation began,” he told the newspaper. “It’s a reflection of the times we’re in and the power that social media has. ... (People are) outright lying and making stuff up … and people just take it and run with it without thinking of the serious consequences.”
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