Global Courant 2023-05-19 23:35:25
A grand jury in Georgia has indicted three former sheriff’s officers for beating a black inmate caught on security cameras.
The indictment filed Wednesday in coastal Camden County charges ex-deputy Ryan Biegel and former prison officers Braxton Massey and Mason Garrick with felonies of battery and simple battery, as well as felony breach of oath of office.
The charges stem from the September assault of Jarrett Hobbs, who was jailed after a traffic stop. Security camera video showed the white officers bursting into Hobbs’ cell and began beating him in the head and neck. Another camera recorded Hobbs being slammed against a wall and pinned to the floor.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation began investigating the beating after Hobbs’ attorneys obtained the video footage. In November, all three men were fired after being arrested on the same charges as in the indictment.
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In this image taken from Camden County, Ga., detention center surveillance video provided by attorney Harry Daniels, jailers beat inmate Jarrett Hobbs at the Georgia facility, on Sept. 3, 2022 (Camden County Detention Center/Courtesy of Attorney Harry Daniels via AP, File)
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The indictment means that a grand jury has found enough evidence to bring the case to trial.
Defense attorneys named in the court records for Garrett and Massey did not immediately respond to emails asking for comment on Thursday. The data did not identify an attorney for Biegel.
Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Keith Higgins dropped charges of assault and obstruction filed against Hobbs following the beating in February. The prosecutor also dismissed the traffic violation and drug possession charges that led to Hobbs’ jail time.
At the time of his arrest in Georgia, Hobbs of Greensboro, North Carolina, was on probation following a 2014 guilty plea to a federal charge of conspiracy to commit banking and banking fraud. Hobbs was returned to federal prison after authorities determined he had violated the terms of his probation by leaving North Carolina.
