New details have been released about an arrest by Atlanta officers that was recorded and shared on social media.
A 16-second video of the arrest was distributed by Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta showing Officer Quinton Green punching Rickey Williams during an arrest.
In a police report, Green wrote that he, Officer Stephenson Camille and another officer approached Williams near 48 Broad Street in Five Points on June 22.
The officers believed Green was “possibly preparing to smoke crack cocaine,” Green wrote in the report.
When the officers asked Williams to put his hands behind his back, Williams “dropped to the ground and started swinging his arms and kicking wildly,” Green wrote in the report.
Camille stunned Williams with a Taser, but the “dry stun” had no effect so Green punched Williams twice in the rib cage, Green wrote in the report.
In a separate police report, Camille wrote he used his Taser because a crowd of 20 to 30 people had gathered near the officers and he wanted to get control of the situation.
“I feared that the longer this tussle continued with Mr. Williams, the angrier and more uncontrollable the crowd would become so I deployed my city-issued Taser,” Camille wrote.
The video appears to show Green punching Williams three times in the neck and head.
Green wrote in his report that medical professionals at Grady Memorial Hospital said Williams’ swollen eye injury didn’t look recent enough to have been sustained by Green.
Sir Maejor Page, a spokesman for Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta, said he wants to see Green charged with a crime.
“We know that Atlanta has a problem with police brutality,” Page said. “Those who are the most vulnerable are the ones who get picked on.”
Page referenced as an example Basil Eleby, who is charged in connection with the I-85 bridge fire and collapse. Eleby was allegedly smoking crack cocaine under the bridge.
Page said the incident between the black Atlanta officers and Williams, who is black, was not a racial issue but rather an issue with the culture in law enforcement.
Atlanta police released a statement on Tuesday saying Green has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
“Following the conclusion of the internal investigation, Chief Erika Shields will review the evidence therein to determine the appropriate disciplinary action, if any,” the Atlanta Police Department said in its statement.
Not long after officers managed to handcuff Williams with his hands in front of him, Green recovered steel wool, which Green wrote in his report is used by crack cocaine users.
Officers did not recover a crack-smoking device nor illegal narcotics.
Williams was booked into the jail at Grady on a charge of obstruction.
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