Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch is going on the defensive against claims lodged against him and several of his jailers in a lawsuit brought by a former inmate.
Attorneys for Dewon Greer of Ellenwood filed a lawsuit alleging he was assaulted while in custody at the Hall County Detention Center two years ago.
Greer was pulled over by state troopers on September 17, 2021, for a traffic violation. They arrested him because his license was suspended over back child support. Greer’s attorneys claim authorities incorrectly found Greer to be behind in his payments,
After Greer was booked at the Hall County Jail, his lawyers say he was assaulted.
“Amid the assault, deputies forced him to the ground, causing his head to slam against a concrete wall,” Attorneys LaRhonda Nicks, B’Ivory LaMarr, and S. Todd Yeary said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
Greer’s attorneys released body camera footage of the incident. In one portion of the video, Greer can be heard telling deputies, “I’m facing the wall with my hands behind my back.”
Shortly after, a deputy grabs his leg, and he falls face forward into the cinder block wall.
“You knocked his (expletive) out,” someone is heard saying.
The incident left a gash above Greer’s left eye, which jailers attended to while he was in custody.
“It was horrible; I didn’t know if I would make it out because I know all the stories and everything you see on TV,” Greer told FOX 5 News.
Greer insists he complied with officers’ commands but says he was “upset and angry just because I had the paperwork to prove it, and all they had to do was take a look at it.”
There’s another side, sheriff says
In a statement issued on September 20, Sheriff Couch says there is another side to the story.
He says from the time Greer was brought into the jail just before midnight, he was “extremely belligerent.”
“During the booking process, Mr. Greer did sustain an injury; however, none of the jailers involved had any ill will or any intent to cause an injury,” Sheriff Couch said.
Couch claims Greer failed to follow lawful commands to get on his knees so his handcuffs could be safely removed.
“Since he failed to comply, the jailers were trying to place Mr. Greer in a prone position to remove his handcuffs. During this process, Mr. Greer fell forward, causing a laceration to his left eye,” the Sheriff says.
Couch says Greer made racial insults towards the arresting trooper and “repeatedly told the jailers he hoped they would die and their families would die.”
Some of those statements can be heard in the video Couch released to counter the claims made by Greer’s attorneys. Sheriff Couch says the edited footage they released “does not tell the entire story.” He released the full unedited video “in order to be totally transparent and accountable to the public I serve.”
“The complete video shows this was an unintentional incident that could have easily been prevented had Mr. Greer simply complied with the officers’ instructions. While this is an unfortunate incident, it was not an egregious assault on an inmate as some in our own community have alleged,” Couch says in his statement.
Now Habersham is sharing the full video released by the sheriff’s office here on our website. We have censored it for language. To view the full uncensored video, click here.
Still feeling the effects
Greer told reporters he is still dealing with lingering issues that left him with a concussion and PTSD. He says he had to get dental implants and suffers from pain, dizziness, headaches, and blurred vision because of his injuries.
According to his lawyers, he has paid more than $28,000 in medical bills.
The investigation determined that Greer’s driver’s license was suspended by mistake and that he was all paid up on his child support, WSB-TV reports.
There are nearly a dozen deputies’ names mentioned in the lawsuit, not because they physically harmed Greer but because, according to his attorney, they stood by and watched without doing anything.
Greer says he wants to see better education to keep people safe when they are in custody. His attorneys say they hope this lawsuit sparks change.
“Obviously, the client is deserving of compensation, but it’s also important to serve as a deterrent,” said LaMarr.
