One DeKalb County sheriff's deputy faces possible demotion, and three others are being suspended after they were caught on video serving an arrest warrant in a manner that their boss labeled "totally unacceptable," it was announced Monday.
The home video, which went viral over the Internet, shows deputies using unprofessional and abusive language as they attempted to serve a civil warrant at an Ellenwood home around 1:30 a.m. July 26, Sheriff Thomas Brown said.
In a statement issued Monday afternoon, Brown's office announced that one sergeant in the department would be demoted unless he retired as previously planned.
Three others also are being suspended, Brown's office said, because of "unprofessional comments and language" used during the incident.
The names of the four were being withheld until they could be notified, the office said.
In addition, the sheriff has implemented new policies and procedures to determine the time of day when civil warrants can be executed, spokesman Lt. Kyle K. Jones said in a prepared statement.
The officers were at the home to serve a civil warrant against Nantania Griffin of Ellenwood for failing to pay a $1,000 fee.
Brown said last week that the deputies were upset that the family kept them waiting outside the residence for half an hour and kept insisting that the deputies had the wrong address.
But Brown said their conduct was "totally unacceptable" and could "not be tolerated."
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McClatchy-Tribune News Service
