Jury Convicts Former Atlanta Police Sergeant for Using Excessive Force-Break Walmart Customers Leg

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/jury-convicts-former-atlanta-police-sergeant-using-excessive-force-break-walmart-customer-s

Department of Justice
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, December 8, 2017

Jury Convicts Former Atlanta Police Sergeant for Using Excessive Force to Break Walmart Customer’s Leg

A federal jury has convicted former Atlanta Police Department Sergeant Trevor King, of Stockbridge, Georgia, of using unreasonable force when he arrested a Walmart shopper who the officer wrongfully suspected of shoplifting a tomato. King beat the victim with his police-issue baton, breaking two bones in the victim’s leg. The jury also convicted King of writing a false incident report in an attempt to cover up his wrongdoing.
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According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges and other evidence presented during the trial, Former Sergeant King was working off-duty as a security officer at a Walmart store near downtown Atlanta when he observed a shopper weigh a tomato and walk toward the store’s exit. King stopped the victim near the door and, within seconds, began to strike the victim with an ASP baton. King struck the victim seven times, breaking two bones in the victim’s right leg.

As the victim lay on the Walmart floor bleeding from his injuries, King searched the victim and found a receipt for the tomato in the victim’s bag. The receipt showed that the victim paid for the tomato only minutes before King’s attack. King then wrote a false report to cover up his unjustified assault. Additionally, King charged the victim with obstructing a shoplifting investigation and with assaulting a police officer.

Following emergency surgery at Grady Hospital, the victim was transported to the Fulton County Jail to be held on King’s bogus charges. The victim’s criminal charges were ultimately dismissed by a state prosecutor.