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Video of officer tasing inmates as punishment in Atlanta exposes cover-up, feds say
Video evidence from Khadijah Solomon's body-worn camera captured her tasing each of the men 'excessively,' shocking and stunning them as they stayed 'compliant and non-threatening,' prosecutors said.
One of the detainees she tased had been handcuffed, according to prosecutors.
Solomon, 47, of Fairburn, was arraigned in federal court on June 17 on charges of using unreasonable force and obstructing justice, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia said in a news release. Fairburn, in Fulton County, is about a 20-mile drive southwest from Atlanta.
Attorney information for Solomon was not immediately available the afternoon of June 18.
The case against her stems from an FBI investigation that revealed Solomon, who was a detention officer sergeant with the Fulton County Sheriff's Office, had abused her power at the county jail on Jan. 16, the office's communications director, Natalie L. Ammons, confirmed to McClatchy News on June 18.
In February, the sheriff's office announced Solomon and two other female employees at the facility, also known as the Rice Street Jail, were arrested on assault charges and fired from their positions in connection with mistreatment of detainees.
The agency helped the FBI investigate Solomon's alleged use of excessive force, Ammons confirmed.
On June 10, she was indicted in the federal case, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
She repeatedly violated the Fulton County Sheriff's Office's use of force policy, which 'forbids deploying a taser as a form of punishment' and in line with the 14th Amendment, prosecutors said.
Then she tried to cover up what happened in false reports, according to prosecutors.
'On three occasions, Khadijah Solomon allegedly tased Fulton County Jail detainees without a legitimate purpose, causing each of them pain and injury,' U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in a statement. 'Abuses of power of this kind are unconstitutional, erode our community's trust, and will be prosecuted.'
State charges
In a Feb. 17 statement, the day of Solomon's arrest, the sheriff's office announced she was charged with multiple state offenses:
one count of aggravated assaultone count of cruelty to inmatesone count of false statements or writingsthree counts of violation of oath by public officer
The two other jail employees, Chantrece Buggs and LaQuondria Pierce, were each charged with one count of aggravated assault and one count of violation of oath by public officer, according to the sheriff's office. They both worked as detention officers.
Information on their legal representation was not immediately available.
At the time, Fulton County Sheriff Patrick 'Pat' Labat said that their 'arrests are part of an ongoing effort to uphold professional standards and ensure the humane treatment of all residents in our custody.'
'The Sheriff's Office has reaffirmed its dedication to enforcing strict policies against misconduct and has vowed to continue working toward reforms that improve jail conditions,' Labat added.
Fulton County Jail investigation
The same month prosecutors said Solomon wrongly tased the three detainees, the Justice Department reached an agreement with Fulton County in January to address 'inhumane' conditions at the jail, McClatchy News reported. The conditions came under scrutiny after the family of Lashawn Thompson, a 35-year-old man who spent three months at the Fulton County Jail until he died in September 2022, called for changes and the facility's closure.
His family's attorneys said Thompson had been 'eaten alive' by insects inside a filthy cell, where his body was found 'riddled' with bites.
The Justice Department began investigating in 2023, resulting in the department issuing a 97-page report in November that found people held at the jail were at risk of violent attacks and experienced excessive force, unsanitary conditions and malnourishment, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
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