The Atlanta Police Department has placed a sergeant and an officer on unpaid leave after a video surfaced showing the sergeant kicking a man in the head. The now viral video prompted Chief Rodney Bryant to open and investigation into the conduct of all the officers were present at the scene.
According to Fox 5 Atlanta, the officers were responding to reports of a woman pointing a gun at several people in Peoplestown. Footage of the incident shows the woman handcuffed on the floor before the sergeant involved was seen kicking her.
“Upon reviewing the video, the actions of the sergeant appear to be unacceptable and we are also concerned with the apparent lack of reaction from another officer present during the incident,” a statement from the APD reads in part. “The decision was made to immediately relieve the sergeant and the officer from duty and place the sergeant on unpaid suspension.”
The video, which was posted on the Atlanta Unsencored Instagram page, appears to show the woman spitting in the officer’s direction and the officer responded by putting his foot to her face. The identity of the sergeant has not been released.
“The actions of those in the video appear to fall outside our standards and training,” a statement from the department read. “However, it is important for the Office of Professional Standards to conduct a thorough investigation to determine the facts surrounding this incident. Chief Bryant will monitor the progress of this expedited investigation and review the findings to determine the proper course of action.”
Vice President of the Atlanta NAACP, Gerald Griggs, is calling for he officers involved to be terminated.
“We think the ultimate punishment, termination should happen. But the other officers we do believe there should be some strict punishment as well.”
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