Sheriff Richard Roundtree has a real problem on his hands.
How does he explain that he had a damning video of excessive force against an inmate in his possession for at least three months and never fully investigated it? Or worse, that inmates flooded a jail pod with a near-riot in 2022 and no internal affairs review was conducted at the time?
Over the last few days, his agency’s internal affairs division has announced felony arrests of five officers – including two sheriff’s investigators and a former jail lieutenant – for an incident that happened nearly two years ago inside the G-pod at the Charles B. Webster Detention Center in Augusta.
On Friday, Investigators Johnny Atkinson and Austin Birch were arrested, followed by Monday’s arrests of Cpl. Daniel D’Aversa, Deputy Dantavion Jones and retired jail Lt. John Whitaker. All are free on bond.
In a sheriff’s press release, the agency says the internal affairs division was first made aware last week of an incident that occurred at the jail between deputies and inmates on May 7, 2022.
“Deputies responded to a call for assistance regarding unruly inmates,” the release says. “After the review of body camera and surveillance videos, it was determined that the amount of force used in response to the call was unnecessary.”
Yet, Sheriff Roundtree, former Chief Deputy Pat Clayton and Internal Affairs Lt. Kimberly Lee were all sent this clip of the alleged assault on inmate Naytrone Adams in an email on Nov. 3, 2023. The email also went to Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson, District Attorney Jared Williams and other leaders.
THE VIDEO:
That’s when former Deputy Quincy Cannon sent around a group email to support his claim of racial discrimination when he was forced to leave the agency after his arrest for assaulting an inmate. Those charges were later dismissed. His email included video of the jail incident and this claim:
“Attached in this email will be documented evidence of comparable events where white deputies of Richmond County Sheriff Office were treated more favorably than myself when they assaulted suspects when they were handcuffed or indicted,” Cannon said.
In response to this reporter’s questions Monday on why the arrests happened three months after the sheriff’s office had the assault video, Internal Affairs Sgt. Caleb Lee said, “Per the Sheriff, the video you attached in the email was edited and did not reflect events in real time. Last week was the first time we received any video that was complete and authenticated.”
The sheriff’s office declined to release the full video, saying it is considered evidence in a pending prosecution and exempt from disclosure.
The edited video is graphic enough. It shows the aftermath of inmates who flooded their jail pod by damaging the fire sprinklers. A small row of inmates are seen laying in a pool of water in handcuffs and jailers dealing with Naytrone Adams, an inmate awaiting trial for murder as well as a host of earlier crimes inside the jail.
At one point, jailers are seen removing handcuffs from Adams before Deputy Johnny Atkinson immediately swings on the inmate and then proceeds to put Adams in a chokehold as other jailers watch.
Reaction from area residents to the video was mixed after it was posted online.
Amber Maltsberger called it disgusting to have human beings laying in dirty water!
“Regardless the situation of the inmate or what he is there for he is a HUMAN BEING,” she said. “It’s too many prisons and jails normalizing this type of behavior from officers to inmates. I hope when he’s on the other side with them [and] they give him the same treatment but worse.”
Nathan Freeman took an opposing view, saying the inmates do it to themselves and each other. “[They] throw feces and urine in the officers faces and at one another,” he said.
Freeman also questioned why the force was unnecessary. “You can’t really see what the inmate did that prompted the officer to strike. It looked like it was reactionary/defensive,” he said.
For her part, resident Janet Bailey asked why it took so long to prosecute the deputies. “Working in law enforcement for over 40 years, I voice my opinion on occasion,” she said. “It is a proven fact that the Sheriff of RCSO will terminate immediately if his employees are guilty of a crime. My question would be, when did they find out.”
Ultimately, that may be the question that only Sheriff Roundtree can answer.
