Attorneys for a Georgia jail detainee recorded by security cameras being punched by guards repeatedly in the head and neck are calling for the deputies to be fired and arrested, insisting the videos show the violence was unjustified.
“There is no way in hell that anybody should be beaten the way this man was beaten,” Harry Daniels, an attorney for the detainee, told reporters. “I don’t care what he did. I don’t care if he knocked the damn door down. You don’t beat a person like that.”
Article written by AP and Defender News Service
Jarrett Hobbs, a 41-year-old Black man from North Carolina, was booked into the Camden County jail in coastal Georgia on Sept. 3 on traffic violation and drug possession charges. Security video from the same night shows Hobbs standing alone in his cell before five guards rush in and surround him. At least three deputies can be seen landing punches before Hobbs gets dragged from the cell and hurled against a wall.
According to federal court records, guards went into Hobbs’ cell on Sept. 3 because he was kicking the door and refused orders to stop. The video shows a guard rush into the cell and grab Hobbs around the neck, trying to push him into a corner. Four others come in behind him.
As jailers try to hold Hobbs by his wrists, one of them starts punching Hobbs in the back of the head and neck. The video shows at least two other guards throwing punches. A second video from a camera outside the cell shows jailers dragging Hobbs through the open door and hurling him against a wall. The struggle continues until Hobbs, who is out of the camera frame, appears to be pinned on the ground. The entire confrontation lasts about a minute.
For most of the video, Hobbs is either obscured by the guards surrounding him or out of the camera frame. It’s unclear to what extent he fought the jailers. Daniels said Hobbs would have been justified to fight back against an unlawful attack by the guards.
