Tyrone Carnegay filed a lawsuit on April 6 over an October 2014 incident in which an off-duty Atlanta police officer beat him inside a Walmart (video below).
“He’s giving a verbal command,” Carnegay told WSB-TV. “As he’s grabbing me, beating me at the same time, saying, ‘Get on ground, get on ground, get on ground.'”
“My leg started giving out, man, I said, ‘Whoa!’ and then that’s when he jumped on my back and everything at the end.” Carnegay added. “I said, ‘Here go my hands man, what’s the problem?'”
The officer, identified by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution as Trevor King, is seen on the store surveillance video striking Carnegay several times with his baton.
“As a result of Defendant King’s brutal attack, Mr. Carnegay suffered bodily injuries, including fractures to his right fibula and tibia,” Carnegay’s lawyers Craig Jones and Steven West wrote in the lawsuit against Walmart, the manager who was on duty at the store and King.
“Well, I was chained to the bed in Grady [Memorial Hospital],” Carnegay told WSB-TV. “Because he said that I assaulted him and obstructed him from doing his job, and then I went to jail for three days.”
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Carnegay alleges that he suffered a broken right leg and a ruptured artery.
Carnegay’s lawsuit asserts that the store manager falsely accused him of stealing a tomato, and when King reached into his pocket he (King) found a receipt that showed Carnegay had paid for the tomato.
“Somebody should have come up to him and just said, ‘Excuse me sir, do you have a receipt for that tomato?’ And if they had done that he would’ve shown him the receipt,” Jones stated. “And then the officer went into Robocop mode and beat the crap out of him.”
“When he found the receipt and money, and everything, he just stood up there like he hadn’t done nothing,” Carnegay said.
According to Carnegay, misdemeanor charges – simple battery against police and willful obstruction of law enforcement officers – against him were dropped.
A Walmart spokesperson said the company had not been served with the lawsuit, but added: “We take the matter seriously. We will review the allegations and respond appropriately with the court.”
The Atlanta Police Department did not issue a comment to the newspaper or the news station.
