CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. – Neighbors
in Clayton County are rallying around a man who claims he's a victim of police
brutality.
As 11Alive reported earlier
this week, video taken by a neighbor shows 69-year-old Dhoruba Bin-Wahad being
questioned by Clayton County police officers. The video appears to show one of
the officers grabbing Wahad by his wrist and slamming him to the ground. Wahad
claims he was the victim of police brutality on his own front porch.
At a rally held Thursday in the
shadow of the Clayton County Police Department, dozens of people gathered as
numerous speaks fired verbal shots at the department's leader and his officers.
They demanded that Clayton County Police Chief Greg Porter take action against
the officers seen on the video.
"What we were witness to
was assault and battery. If he had slapped and thrown police to the ground, he
would be in jail today," one speaker said.
Wahad spoke directly to his
supporters.
"I was not out of
control," he said. "I was not a flight risk. I was not cussing them
out, and let's assume that I did cuss them out. Let's assume that I was
verbally uncooperative. Let's just assume all those things. Does that justify
me being slammed on the ground while I'm sitting there after being
searched?"
According to the incident
report, police came to Wahad's house when a neighbor called 911 after mistaking
Wahad for a burglar. The report describes Wahad as agitated and argumentative.
The department says it is
investigating the incident and cannot comment any further.
Meanwhile, some of the
Thursday's rally organizers say they want to meet with the police chief himself
and they have plans of returning to the department Friday morning with plans of
making that happen.
