COBB COUNTY, Ga. – A sheriff’s deputy recruit in Georgia was terminated and taken into custody after battering an inmate at a jail facility, Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens said earlier this week.
The arrested deputy recruit was identified as 25-year-old Jacqun Brown. He was placed behind bars at the same jail where he worked just hours prior to his arrest. He is was charged with battery and violation of his oath of office, according to the sheriff’s office, Fox News reported.
During a Monday press conference, Sheriff Owens said, “”We will not tolerate abuse of power. We will uphold laws equally and fairly.”
Brown is accused of the crime as he was escorting the prisoner from one part of the jail to another on Saturday.
“The deputy [recruit] was moving the [detainee] in an attempt to de-escalate a situation inside the pod area,” the sheriff said. “He was causing a disturbance. An exchange of words began, and the end result was the deputy attacking the inmate. It was a clear violation of all of our training and protocols in our policies.”
Brown had recently completed training and was in a probationary period of employment at the jail and had not yet become a full-fledged deputy, according to the sheriff.
The inmate, who was in jail on drug trafficking charges, suffered “superficial injuries” and as a matter of due diligence was medically evaluated at a hospital, Owens said.
“We quickly reviewed the evidence… and decided to relieve the recruit immediately of his job,” the sheriff confirmed.
Cobb County District Attorney Flynn Broady Jr. affirmed the sheriff’s office for handling the alleged misconduct, Fox reported.
“We will hold law enforcement accountable when they do wrong,” Broady, Jr. said. “And, you see that in the action of the sheriff, the quickness.”
Owens said there is video of the encounter and it would be released in the future.
