WALTON COUNTY, Ga. — A man arrested says a jailer beat him and dragged him by his handcuffs for no reason, leaving him with a broken collarbone and a busted lip.
That deputy has since been fired and arrested.
“He just snapped,” Christopher Wilburn told Channel 2′s Tom Jones.
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Wilburn said Walton County jailer Jeffrey Day snapped after police arrested him on July 28. After that, he said Day snapped his shoulder and busted his lip.
“It’s like he lost it,” said Wilburn.
Wilburn said when Day attacked him inside the jail last month, he couldn’t defend himself.
“I was in handcuffs,” Wilburn said.
He says he was not a threat to Day at all.
It all began when police arrested Wilburn for suspicion of DUI. When he got to the jail he said he asked Day to loosen his handcuffs.
An affidavit obtained by Channel 2 Action News said that’s when Day slammed Wilburn’s face into a ledge, busting his lip. It says he then dragged him by his handcuffs to a shower area, breaking his clavicle.
It was all captured on video surveillance.
Wilburn says the attack was unprovoked.
“I didn’t do anything to provoke him or anything. I don’t know what he was thinking,” he said.
Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman says he watched the video and was disturbed by what he saw. He said Day crossed the line.
“Oh. With both feet,” he said.
Day was fired and arrested after Chapman called in the GBI and had his office investigate.
Day is now accused of aggravated battery, cruelty to inmates and violation of oath. To the Sheriff though, outside of court...this isn’t an accusation.
“I’m not accusing him of it. I saw it. He did it,” he said.
Chapman says Wilburn was mouthing off and using salty language.
Wilburn’s attorney said Day should have been able to ignore that.
“You have to be equipped to deal with that,” Julius Collins said.
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Sheriff Chapman also said Day had to resist responding the way he did. Which is why he says he took swift action.
“We can’t tolerate it,” he said.
Wilburn wants justice. When asked what is justice to him, Wilburn responded, “Him being fired and him being prosecuted.”
Day has bonded out of jail.
His attorney, Mike Puglise, said Day is looking forward to his day in court and is asking the public not to rush to judgment.
He also said Day is standing by his eight years of exemplary service in the Walton community.
Wilburn plans to file a lawsuit.
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