A former NFL player who was choked by a Henry County police officer during a December 2017 arrest has reached a financial settlement with the county, his attorneys said Wednesday.
An officer choked Desmond Marrow while he was in handcuffs following an alleged road-rage incident. Then-officer David Rose was initially cleared after an internal investigation that was closed within five days of Marrow’s arrest, but when cellphone video surfaced in April 2018, Henry police reversed course and fired Rose.
Marrow’s civil suit was filed shortly after Rose’s firing.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following image was taken from cellphone video of Desmond Marrow’s arrest and may be disturbing to some viewers.
Credit: WSBTV.com
Credit: WSBTV.com
By early 2019, Rose faced criminal charges. He pleaded guilty to simple battery in September 2020 following a long legal standoff between his attorneys and prosecutors. He will no longer be able to work as a police officer due to his conviction.
Now, the civil suit has finally come to a close with a $200,000 settlement that “marks a record amount for a non-death, officer-involved use of force case in Henry County,” Marrow’s attorneys said in a statement.
“We are pleased that Henry County has decided to resolve the case brought by Desmond Marrow and for a record amount for a non-death case. Most significantly, the officer who choked Mr. Marrow pleaded guilty to battery, surrendered his law enforcement certification and will never work in law enforcement again — two rare conclusions in use-of-force cases,” attorneys Chris Stewart, Dianna Lee and Andrea Boyd said in a joint statement.
“We recognize that most police officers honor their commitment to protect and serve and are integral parts of protecting the community. But those who violate that oath must be held accountable,” they added.
Henry County police officials did not return a request for comment.
In the video of Marrow’s arrest, he is heard screaming, “I’m not even fighting back” and “I can’t breathe” multiple times.
Marrow, a former University of Toledo cornerback, signed with the Houston Texans in 2012 after going undrafted, but he never played in an NFL game.
His lawyers previously said the 2017 altercation began when Marrow followed two men to the parking lot of a Target store on Jonesboro Road after they called him racial slurs and threw hot coffee into his vehicle while driving. A witness then called 911 and erroneously reported that the former player had a weapon, the attorneys have said, insisting their client cooperated with officers’ demands once they were on the scene.
During the internal investigation, police department leadership reviewed dashcam video in which Rose is heard telling his partner, “I’m not going to write it down, but hell yeah I choked that (expletive).”
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