DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The state has ordered DeKalb County to stop training jail recruits.
This comes after Channel 2 Action News and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation investigated the death of a recruit.
George Ward died in May 2013. Channel 2 Action News exclusively obtained video of Ward's final hours. He was forced to wear a pink hat and shirt and visibly struggled to complete most exercises.
The FBI findings are not public, but eventually will be.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Erica Byfield confirmed agents sent their investigative file to the DeKalb County District Attorney's Office and to investigators within the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council.
POST is most commonly known as the agency that certifies officers in Georgia. POST's Council met in late March.
The council is made up of law enforcement leaders across the state.
"There is a lot about this case that borders on hazing," said Ken Vance, director of POST.
He is one of the few who has read the GBI's findings. "There's no way to spin this that makes it look right and appropriate," he said.
People in the public meeting gasped as a POST investigator read remarks from a recruit who was in Ward's class.
The investigator recounted Ward asked the recruit to help him walk, instructors forced Ward to play dead in a mock funeral and Ward collapsed several times during a run.
Minutes later, the POST Council suspended DeKalb County's Sheriff's Office ability to train jail recruits.
The members said they would revisit the issue once POST investigators complete an investigation, and DeKalb County's District Attorney decides if he will pursue criminal charges.
Currently POST staffers are investigating two DeKalb County Sheriff's Office employees for their conduct in the hours before and after Ward's death.
Maj. Laura Roscoe was in charge that day, and Sgt. Larresia Turner helped instruct the recruit class.
The women are in the video Channel 2 Action News obtained.
Byfield reviewed Roscoe's training records and found she has had medical training.
Byfield also put in an Open Record Request for e-mails Roscoe sent regarding Ward's death.
The search found Roscoe sent POST a two page summary about the incident. One section reads, "I instructed the drill instructors to have Recruit Ward sit down and drink water."
Sources told Byfield there were more e-mails. As a result, Byfield made an additional request for e-mails, but directed this request to DeKalb County IT Department.
She made the original request in October 2014. The county fulfilled the request in early March.
Byfield reported one e-mail in particular stood out. It contained an earlier version of Roscoe's summary for POST.
In it, Roscoe told Sheriff Jeffery Mann, "Let me know what you think about this. I kept it really simple and almost vague".
"Folks, a death occurred. There is nothing about a death that is simple and vague," Vance said in reaction to the development.
Byfield asked the sheriff why the county IT department provided Channel 2 with a different set of e-mails.
A representative did not directly answer the question, but said the Sheriff's Office process is effective and consistent.
Cynthia Williams added the sheriff's IT unit and employee named in the request are expected to gather the requested information.
As Channel 2 Action News has previously reported, the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office did not investigate Ward's death.
Byfield asked Mann why there wasn’t an investigation in the fall of 2014. He responded, "Erica, how many times do I have to tell you? We don't investigate those."
Since her original report, there have been several major developments.
Along with investigations by the GBI, DeKalb County District Attorney's Office and POST, the DeKalb County Medical Examiner changed the 29-year-old's cause and manner of death.
A DeKalb jail recruit class started in late March, two days before the POST decision. The council decided that class can do classroom work, but cannot engage in physical training.
WSBTV
