While Jeff Sessions must give all of us pause about the future of holding bad cops accountable for their actions, the state of Georgia(!) has given us some hope.
CNN:
On Wednesday, Sgt. Michael Bongiovanni pulled over motorist Demetrius Hollins in a routine traffic stop, according to police Chief Butch Ayers. . . .
In a cell phone video shot by a witness that emerged Wednesday night, Officer Robert McDonald, who was responding to assist Bongiovanni, emerges from offscreen and kicks Hollins while he is on the ground. . . .
During the investigation, a second video surfaced, shot from a different angle by another witness. In this video, Bongiovanni can be seen approaching Hollins, who is still inside the car. As Hollins exits the vehicle with his hands up, the officer punches him in the face.
Remarkably, the witness videos (plural) were turned over to Gwinnett County authorities that day. It didn’t take long for Gwinnett County to do what so many other municipalities haven’t done: they fired both officers less than 24 hours after receiving the tapes.
But that’s not all.
Today, Rosanna Szabo, the Gwinnett County Solicitor General, dismissed 89 cases in which these two officers either were the arresting officer or a “necessary witness.” These were all misdemeanor cases, but, nevertheless, as Szabo noted:
“The actions of these officers completely undermine their credibility and they cannot be relied upon as witnesses in any pending prosecution,” according to a solicitors office press release.”
If only more cases of police brutality were handled this way.