DeKalb County police officer finally indicted for beating our client

Former DeKalb County police officer Tarik Crumpton was recently charged in a 19 count indictment stemming from his arrest, beating and malicious prosecution of our client, Brian Peterson.

On October 20, 2010, Crumpton was working an off-duty extra job as a security officer, at Dugan’s Sports Bar, in Stone Mountain, Georgia.  As Mr. Peterson was leaving Dugan’s, he said goodbye to a woman he had spoken with earlier in the evening.  At the time, Crumpton was speaking to the woman.  Upset that Mr. Peterson had told the woman goodbye, Crumpton told Mr. Peterson to “step off,” as if Crumpton was on a date rather than working a part-time job.  Mr. Peterson jokingly asked Crumpton if he was going to arrest him for saying goodbye, thinking the officer was kidding.  Crumpton responded, “I can lock you up for whatever I want to.”  Mr. Peterson walked away, rather than escalating the situation.

Crumpton followed Mr. Peterson outside and began cursing at Mr. Peterson.  Mr. Peterson tried to ignore Crumpton’s ranting and leave, but Crumpton told him he was under arrest for disorderly conduct, despite the fact Crumpton was the one causing a commotion, cursing and acting in an unprofessional fashion.  After putting Mr. Peterson in handcuffs, Crumpton threw him, head-first, into a black SUV, causing a large dent in the passenger side door.  Then, Crumpton slammed Mr. Peterson to the ground and told him to “get up.”  Crumpton then pushed Mr. Peterson to a nearby DeKalb County police car, slammed Mr. Peterson into the side of the car hard enough to dent the vehicle, kicked Mr. Peterson’s legs apart and searched Mr. Peterson for contraband.  After finding nothing illegal, Crumpton slammed Mr. Peterson to the ground again, causing Mr. Peterson to hit his head on the pavement.  Mr. Peterson was not resisting Crumpton in any way throughout the incident, as confirmed by other officers and citizens who witnessed the beating.

Crumpton later lied in his incident report about what occurred that evening and lied to Internal Affairs investigators about the incident, in an effort to cover up his inappropriate behavior and further Mr. Peterson’s criminal prosecution.  Crumpton also asked other DeKalb County officers to lie and help him cover up his actions.

Despite the fact the DeKalb County Police Department’s Internal Affairs investigation concluded that Crumpton used excessive force against Mr. Peterson and developed significant evidence that Crumpton lied to cover his tracks, the DeKalb County Police Department only suspended Crumpton from his job for one day.  The charges against Mr. Peterson were finally dropped more than a year after Mr. Peterson was beaten and illegally arrested by Crumpton, and DeKalb County paid a settlement to Mr. Peterson several months later.  However, justice had not yet been served, because a police officer who severely beat and illegally arrested a citizen for no reason, then lied to further his prosecution, had still not been charged with the commission of any crimes during this incident.

Unfortunately, the DeKalb County Police Department and DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office failed to have Crumpton indicted for more than three and one half years after he violated Mr. Peterson’s civil rights, despite clear testimony from other officers and independent witnesses showing that Crumpton repeatedly battered Mr. Peterson and lied to further his prosecution.  While we are glad to see that justice may finally be served, there is no reason that Crumpton’s prosecution should have been delayed for so long.

See more about Tarik Crumpton’s indictment at: Atlanta Journal-Constitution article; WSB article and video.