Cellphone video shows police officer punching man in face during takedown

CAROLL COUNTY, Ga. — Dramatic cellphone video captured the violent takedown of a man before he was arrested.

Channel 2's Aaron Diamant spoke to the man in the video, Amor Ellison, about the incident that happened Monday in a Zaxby's parking lot.

“I couldn’t believe it was me in that position as I watched the video. I never thought that would happen to me,” Ellison said.

Ellison said he showed up to the restaurant to pick up his last paycheck when the manager called police.

The video first shows an agitated Cpl. C.J. Meeks threaten to arrest Ellison if he doesn’t give him his address.

In the video, the officer can be heard saying, “Hey, shut up. Let me tell you something real quick. I’m going to ask you again, and if you don’t answer I’m going to lock you up…what’s your address?”

Seconds later, Meeks slams his pad to the ground and rushes Ellison as Meeks and another officer take Ellison down then Meeks punches Ellison in the face.

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“I knew I was going to hit the ground, and I didn’t know what would come after that, so I kinda went with the flow, started going to the ground with them, so, I let them do it. I let them take me down. I didn’t want them to rough me up any more than that," Ellison said.

Carrollton police Chief Joel Richards agreed to watch the video with Diamant.

"I want to say that there’s bodycam also that I want to review. I want to know what was going through that officers’ mind at the time," Richards said.

The chief said he didn’t wait for Ellison to file a complaint. As soon as he saw the video on social media last night, he immediately ordered an internal investigation.

He said this message to Ellison and his family:

“Please give us time to look into this. Just like, you know, I’m sure they don’t want him found guilty just based on the officer charging him with something…let us look into it. We will be as transparent as we can. I assure you that.”

Cox Media Group