A young boy and his mother are suing a former Macon police officer for handcuffing the child after getting a report the then 8-year-old was throwing pine cones at the officer’s pet dog.
Demetrice and Ethan Devon Martin contend in a lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday that Justin Fox terrified them by barging into their apartment in January 2013, handcuffing the child and threatening to arrest him for animal cruelty.
Fox had been on his way to roll call when he got a call from his girlfriend that made him think his dog was being abused by Ethan. Fox lived in the same complex as the Martins.
He returned to the complex, knocked loudly on the door and then pushed his way into the apartment, according to the lawsuit against Fox, the city and the landlord. After theconfrontation that included handcuffing the child, Fox released him and went to work, said Winston Denmark, the lawyer representing the Martins.
Fox “gives him a little bit of shock and awe as only police officers can do — it was all together unnecessary to put him in handcuffs,” Denmark told The Atlanta Journal Constitution Thursday. “Being a police officer is a sacred trust and when you abuse that trust by terrorizing a mother and a child that way is almost an act of cowardice.”
Fox declined to comment when contacted by The AJC Thursday. “Nobody wants to hear my side of the story,” the 25-year-old said.
Fox resigned from the police department in March 2013. Macon Police Capt. Jimmy Barbee told 13WMAZ that the police disciplinary board recommended Fox’s termination following his admission to the handcuffing.
Barbee told the news station the boy’s mother claimed her son was riding his small scooter when he spotted a dog on an apartment terrace and threw pine cones to get the animal’s attention, Barbee said.
Fox wanted to “teach the child a life lesson,” Barbee told the station regarding the handcuffing.
Fox was on the police force for about three years and his disciplinary record showed the department had cited him several times, mostly for incidents of poor courtesy, the news station reported.
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