Videos of two Georgia police officers brutalizing a 25-year-old Black man in the middle of the day went viral on Saturday, prompting calls for justice. On Sunday, the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office announced that the “Deputy who repeatedly struck Roderick Walker is being terminated from the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office by order of Sheriff Victor Hill for excessive use of force.”
Father of four Roderick Walker, his girlfriend, their 9-month-old baby, and his stepson, were passengers in a Lyft that was pulled over by Clayton County officers for having a broken taillight. Walker refused to produce a driver’s license, questioning why he needed to since he was not driving, nor was this his car. From there, Walker was taken out of the vehicle and his children had to watch as Georgia police beat him bloody.
The video is brutal. In it a woman screams that Walker can’t breathe, that he’s bleeding, while you can hear and see his stepson screaming “Daddy” from the open backseat passenger window. One officer repeatedly drops huge blows to Walker, who is being pinned to the ground by the punching officer and another officer. A third officer appears a couple of minutes into the video as they have handcuffed Walker, his face bloody. The police officer punching Walker says that Walker bit him, a charge Walker denies.
Walker has been reportedly denied his bond because of previous charges, though the family’s attorney has demanded Walker be released from jail where he was originally booked on “arrested on suspicion of obstructing officers and battery”—charges that seem to clearly be in dispute. The vehicle’s driver also failed to produce identification but received no citations. It seems Georgia police had taken their pound of flesh at that point and did not have the resources to harass another innocent bystander.
Walker’s family say that he lost consciousness at least twice during the incident. According to The Guardian, a later part of the video shows Walker pulled to his feet by the officers, wobbling unsteadily. Walker’s family attorney released an image showing Walker’s bruised-up face from jail. It is important to note here that it does not matter what charges Walker faced outside of this event. There is a reason our country has civil rights laws. It is our civil rights, and more specifically our right not to be brutalized by the state’s law enforcement apparatus, that supposedly distinguish us as the “Land of the Free.”
WARNING: The video below is very graphic.
