ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Alpharetta Department of Public Safety released body camera footage on Friday afternoon of a former Fulton County detention officer choking an inmate until she passed out during an exchange with Alpharetta officers earlier this month.
Monique Clark, 31, was arrested June 6 on felony counts of aggravated assault and violation of oath by a public officer, along with a misdemeanor count of reckless conduct. The incident happened on June 5 and was recorded by the Alpharetta officers’ body cameras.
The newly released videos show a woman who was arrested on charges of criminal trespass and public drunkenness being led out of an officer’s SUV in handcuffs.
Channel 2′s Michael Seiden was at a news conference held by Alpharetta police to discuss the investigation on Friday afternoon.
“It was an obvious concern with what was seen on video and therefore our office and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office investigated,” Alpharetta Police Chief John Robison said.
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In the video, an officer can be seen leading her into the booking area, Casey Bennett is heard repeatedly shouting expletives at the officer and demanding that they let her call her mother.
Once inside, she can be heard shouting at the officer to take off her handcuffs and the officer warns her that if she kicks him, she will be charged with an additional crime. She never kicks the officer and she eventually sits down, continuing to shout at police and the detention officers.
When an unidentified detention officer asks her to get up and walk over to the body scanner before she’s booked in, Bennett can be heard shouting, “I will hurt you!” The detention officer shrugs and says “many have tried.”
The detention officers ask her again to step over to the body scanner and when she refuses to comply, they her that they can do this the “easy way or hard way,” according to body camera footage.
The detention officer remains calm as Bennett continues to shout expletives at her, threatening to hurt her. The detention officer can be seen walking back over to where Clark is standing and then seconds later, Clark helps Bennett out of the chair and walks her to the body scanner, where Clark is seen grabbing the back of her neck from behind.
“Don’t! Do not!” Bennett can be heard shouting.
The video shows Clark squeezing her neck with hands on the front and back of her neck.
“I advise you to cooperate,” Clark says as he applied pressure to her neck.
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As Clark continues to choke her, Bennett appears to be in serious pain.
“Hold your face before you lose your breath,” added Clark. “The choice is yours!”
Seconds later, Bennett can be seen collapsing to the ground. She appears to be unconscious as her neck goes limp.
An officer can be heard asking her to stand up and she eventually regains consciousness but she appears dazed.
She’s unable to get back up on her feet and when officers ask her if she’s going to cooperate, she tells them that she doesn’t feel okay. She’s immediately taken to the medical staff at the jail and eventually transported by ambulance to the hospital.
After reviewing statements and body camera footage from the incident, Chief Robison declared that three of his officers involved in the incident did not violate department policy.
“It is painful to her, it’s painful to her family or loved ones. Everybody’s asking her about this and this is just again and reliving one of the worst days of her life,” attorney Suri Chadha Jimenez said.
Bennett released a statement exclusively to Seiden that read:
“The evening of my arrest was one of the worst evenings of my life. The officers knew that I was not well and knew that I was not in a normal mental state. While I am not proud of my behavior, nothing prepared me for being restrained by one officer while I was choked unconscious by another. I cannot describe the terror I felt and continue to feel. I am speaking out because I have no choice. Everything has been made public by the City of Alpharetta. I hope that no one else ever has to endure this.”
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