A former detention officer with the Fulton County, Georgia, Sheriff’s Office was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison for intentionally depriving a detained woman of her civil rights by using unreasonable force, officials stated.
Monique Clark, 32, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, pleaded guilty last March to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law.
According to court documents, Clark strangled a handcuffed arrestee into unconsciousness while processing her at the Fulton County North Annex Jail.
In his plea, Clark admitted he knew the woman posed no threat to officers and that Sheriff’s Office policy prohibited using chokeholds or neck restraints except in life-or-death situations.
“Instead of carrying out his mission to ensure the safety and security of detainees in his custody at the Fulton County Jail, Clark abandoned his oath of office when he used excessive force to strangle a pre-trial detainee without cause,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia. “Law enforcement officers who violate their professional duties are not above the law. It is now Clark who will serve time in prison as a result of his reprehensible conduct.”
The FBI Atlanta Field Office and Fulton County Sheriff’s Office’s Office of Professional Standards investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bret Hobson for the Northern District of Georgia and Trial Attorney Alec Ward of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case.