Marc Theodule has been fired following an investigation by the APD after the department was made aware of a video of Theodule kicking a woman in the face while she was laying handcuffed on the ground
An Atlanta Police sergeant has been fired after an investigation prompted by a video of him kicking a woman in the face as she was laying on the floor with her hands cuffed behind her back.
Marc Theodule, who was fired on Monday, and officer Bridget Citizen were recorded as they arrested Ashley Cooley on July 26.
In the video, Cooley appears to be kicked in the face by Theodule after she allegedly spat on his boots and pants.
Theodule had been put on unpaid suspension while Citizen was placed on administrative assignment when Atlanta Police Department Chief Rodney Bryant was made aware of the video the same day it was recorded.
Citizen has since returned to full duty after the investigation conducted by the Atlanta Police Department Office for Professional Standards determined she had not violated their duty-to-intervene policy.
Citizen reported the incident to her supervisors immediately after it happened.
‘Our expectation is that employees intervene in ongoing situations, whereas the kick occurred one time and then ceased,’ read a statement from the agency.
Cooley’s neighbor, who shot the footage and did not want to be identified, told CBS46 she actually saw the cops kick her more than once.
‘They actually kicked her down the hill and she went rolling,’ she said.
Theodule had been part of the Atlanta PD since 2008 and had received training sessions on de-escalation techniques and use of force last April, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Officer Bridget Citizen has returned to full duty after an investigation by the Atlanta PD concluded she had not violated their duty-to-intervene policy
Ashley Cooley (above in blue top), who was kicked in the face by Theodule while she was laying handcuffed on the ground, speaks at a press conference in Atlanta
The seven-second video shows Cooley lying face down on the ground next to some parked cars with Theodule and Citizen standing over her.
Police had been called to an apartment at 35 Haygood Avenue in Summerhill at around 12.30pm to reports of a woman walking around and pointing a gun at several people.
In the video, Cooley, who is partially undressed, raises her head in Theodule’s direction before he kicks her in the head with his right foot.
A gasp is heard in the footage as his boot strikes Cooley’s face.
Citizen does not appear to react or make any attempt to stop the incident.
A third officer is then seen coming around the side of the patrol car to the scene when the footage ends.
The incident took place on July 26, when police were called to an apartment in Summerhill, Atlanta, for a domestic incident, according to Atlanta Uncensored. Cooley was kicked in the face by Theodule after she allegedly spat on his boots and pants
Citizen did not appear to react or make any attempt to stop the incident. A third officer is then seen coming around the side of the patrol car to the scene (above)
‘She was spitting at the officer and then she had already spit on him once before but it didn’t get on him, so she spit on him again and it got on his boots and that’s when he decided to kick her in the face,’ said the neighbor who recorded the incident.
The neighbor confronted the officer about the incident.
‘We was like why did you kick her, he was like I didn’t kick her, he didn’t even know that somebody was recording,’ she said.
Ashley’s aunt Nell Gibson told CBS46 she was ‘horrified’ over the treatment of her niece who she said suffers from mental health problems and usually takes medication
Police said Theodule and Citizen had requested Grady EMS transport Cooley to the hospital for evaluation.
Atlanta PD slammed the actions of the cops and said Cooley was not charged.
The department had previously said that Theodule’s actions were ‘unacceptable’ and they were ‘also concerned with the apparent lack of reaction from another officer present during the incident.’
Ashley’s aunt Nell Gibson told CBS46 she was ‘horrified’ over the treatment of her niece, who she said suffers from mental health problems and usually takes medication.
‘It was a woman down on the ground in handcuffs, oh man I am totally horrified, I’m speechless, not only that it’s a police officer,’ she said.
‘Ashley does have some mental health problems we thought she was off her meds because she’s been acting kind of off.’
The incident comes at a time when police brutality is under the spotlight. Atlanta Police Officer Garrett Rolfe (left) shot dead black man Rayshard Brooks (right) at a Wendy’s on June 12 2020
Bodycam footage (above) showed the moments leading up to Brooks death. Brooks ran away and was shot twice by Rolfe when he turned to fire the Taser in Rolfe’s direction
The incident comes at a time when police brutality is under the spotlight following the 2020 murder of George Floyd at the hands of white cop Derek Chauvin and a series of cop killings of black men and women across America.
Less than one month after Floyd’s murder, Atlanta Police Officer Garrett Rolfe shot dead black man Rayshard Brooks at a Wendy’s.
Rolfe, 27, shot Brooks, also 27, twice in the back as he ran from officers outside the fast food joint in Atlanta on June 12 2020.
The white cop and fellow Officer Devin Brosnan, 26, had been called to the drive-thru by customers who said a man was asleep at the wheel.
A scuffle broke out when the officers tried to arrest him, with Brooks taking Brosnan’s taser and pointing it behind him in the direction of the cops.
Black Lives Matter protesters descended on City Hall in Atlanta in May after the local police department reinstated Officer Garrett Rolfe
Rolfe, a six-year police veteran, was charged with 11 counts over Brooks’ death including felony murder.
He was also fired by the Atlanta Police Department one day after the fatal shooting.
In May, Atlanta police reinstated Rolfe to the department, saying the fired officer was ‘not afforded his right to due process’.
He is now on administrative leave because the terms of his bond mean he is banned from possessing a firearm or being around other police officers.
This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk
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