Suspected of burglary last November, 18-year old Travarrius Williams says he was driven to the South Precinct station where Officers Blake Norwood and Arthur Parker beat him.
“They were punching, kicking, stomping, said Williams. “They broke my tooth on the back of the windshield.”
Blake and Parker have now been indicted by a grand jury. Those two officers along with Sgt. Anthony Robinson are accused of conspiring to beat Williams and three boys ages 15 and 16 in a separate incident.
In both cases, the victims were in handcuffs.
“This is the kind of conduct by police officers that, if it goes unchecked, gets people killed,” said Williams’ attorney, Brian Spears.
Blake and Parker were arrested for the alleged beating on November 15th. The officers later resigned.
Sgt. Anthony Robinson is the accused ringleader. The 15-count indictment says he ordered the beating. It also says Robinson also participated in the case of the incident involving the three juveniles on Dec. 23rd 2010. Robinson suspected the teens were involved in burglaries.
The indictments pose a larger problem for DeKalb County prosecutors. District Attorney Robert James admitted that they could force his office to re-examine arrests made by the three officers.
“Whenever we see incidents of police misconduct, we have to go back and review the cases they were involved in,” James said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “That’s something that’s up in the air right now.”
James called the beatings a “criminal conspiracy,” but would not say if other cops might still be under investigation in this case.
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