‘I’m about to die’: Probe launched after broken tail light results in brutal beating and arrest

A sheriff’s deputy in Georgia has been fired following an investigation into videos of an extremely violent arrest in which a black man was beaten bloody and unconscious, sparking outrage in the community and online.

The incident took place on September 11, when the unnamed Clayton County deputy pulled over an off-duty rideshare vehicle for an alleged broken taillight. 

Passenger Roderick Walker, 26, was asked to show his identification, which he questioned as he was not the driver, at which point the deputies asked him to exit the car. A scuffle ensued and the deputies were filmed brutally beating Walker bloody and, eventually, unconscious. 

Warning: The following footage may contain scenes which some viewers may find disturbing. 

The brutal beating took place in front of at least one of Walker’s four children. At one point, Walker can be heard saying “I can't breathe… I’m about to die.”

“He bit my hand!” one of the deputies can be heard saying, as the woman with Walker is heard pleading: “please stop, baby don’t bite him.”

Walker remains in jail, charged with two counts of battery and two counts of obstructing or hindering law enforcement officers. 

However, following an internal investigation, Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill announced Sunday that the deputy seen violently and repeatedly striking Walker in the videos was terminated for “excessive use of force.” 

Neither of the deputies involved have been named and the decision on whether to pursue a criminal investigation remains with the Clayton County District Attorney. 

Later on Sunday, amid calls for Walker to be released and for both sheriff's deputies to be fired, the sheriff added more context to the case, stating that Walker has a “felony probation warrant out of Fulton County for cruelty to children, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and a failure to appear warrant.”

Walker has received medical attention and no skull fractures were detected on x-ray scans. Small demonstrations were held over the weekend, calling for Walker’s release.

Elsewhere in the US over the weekend, violent protests took place after the fatal police shooting of 27-year-old Ricardo Munoz in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

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