A sheriff's deputy in Georgia was fired Sunday after videos posted to social media showed him repeatedly striking a Black man who was pinned to the ground.
The Clayton County Sheriff's Office said the deputy, who is white, was fired for excessive use of force in the encounter Friday with Roderick Walker, 26. A criminal investigation was being turned over to the Clayton County district attorney's office, the sheriff's office said in a statement.
An attorney for Walker, Shean Williams, said Saturday that Walker was a passenger in a car that was pulled over for having a broken taillight. When a deputy asked for his identification, he refused — "like every American citizen has the right to do," Williams said.
"Why are you asking for my ID?" Williams quoted Walker saying. "I'm not driving, and I haven't done anything wrong."
After authorities told Walker to get out of the car, Williams said, the deputies "attacked" him.
At least two videos show the confrontation from different angles. In one, an officer is heard saying Walker is biting his hand.
In the same video, deputies pin Walker down and appear to have him in a hold around his neck. Walker can be heard saying "I can't breathe" while appearing to gasp for air. A woman can be heard screaming: "No! Don't kill him! He said he can't breathe!"
The deputies are still on top of the man for several seconds after the woman's plea. When the deputies get off him, he is bleeding from his nose and appears to have lost consciousness. Williams said Walker went unconscious twice.
At least one child can he heard screaming in the background.
The deputies are then seen rolling Walker onto his stomach and handcuffing him. The video ends with a third deputy asking the woman to get into a car.
Another video shot from afar shows a boy inside a car parked next to the scene, yelling, "Daddy! Daddy!" The same video shows a deputy punching the man while he is pinned down.
There does not appear to be any video indicating what led up to the incident, and it was unclear how the interaction became violent. Authorities have not said why the car was pulled over.
The Clayton County Sheriff's Office said in the statement that Walker received medical treatment, including X-rays, and that no fractures were found. A photo released by his attorneys showed him with a swollen eye.
Jail records show that Walker was arrested on suspicion of obstructing or hindering an officer and battery, which Williams said should be dropped. The sheriff's office said Sunday that Walker would have been released on his own recognizance but that he was being held on an outstanding felony probation warrant for cruelty to children and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, as well as another warrant for failure to appear.
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Williams, the sheriff's office and the Southern States Police Benevolent Association did not respond to requests for comment Sunday.
The arrest comes after months of protests over the police killing of Breonna Taylor, the death of George Floyd in police custody and the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Referring to those cases, Gerald Griggs of the NAACP in Atlanta said Saturday that he and others are demanding that Walker be released but that they could be mourning his life.
"We've seen this happen on too many occasions, and we're just tired of it," he said.
