ATLANTA — A Stone Mountain man tased last year by a Gwinnett County Police officer is suing the department, the county, and two officers for $10 million.
John Efford’s attorney said he was on his way to an interview for work in 2019 when he was stopped for jaywalking off Holcomb Bridge Road.
Body camera video shows Officer Edwards and former Officer Charles Bynum pulling up to Efford and exiting their vehicles with their tasers drawn and approaching Efford.
Audio cuts in 30 seconds into the video as officers order Efford to sit down. Police apparently had approached him earlier for jaywalking.
“I hit the crosswalk, what did I do?” Efford said.
“No crosswalk right there,” one officer said, before yelling, “Sit down!” to Efford.
Efford continued to ask what he did, with his hands in the air before Bynum grabbed him and ordered him to the ground. Edwards then forces him to the ground before both officers backed up and ordered his hands behind his back.
In the video, Bynum said he would use his taser unless Efford put his hands behind his back.
“Please sir, what did I do,” Efford can be heard saying to the officers with his hands in a praying motion.
He was tased once and screams and curls up, as Bynum warned that he would be tased again if he didn’t put his hands behind his back. The 29-year-old screams several more times that he didn’t do anything, as officers ordered him to get on the ground.
Once police forced Efford to the ground again, he was tased two more times in the back before being handcuffed. At one point, Efford can be heard saying, “read me my rights” and “I didn’t do anything.”
Jackie Patterson, Efford’s attorney, told 11Alive besides being tased, Efford suffered a gash over his eye from being forcefully pushed to the ground. Patterson said his client is traumatized from the arrest. Efford was charged with jaywalking and two counts of misdemeanor obstruction, but all the charges were dropped in November of 2019.
“When the solicitor’s office saw the video and saw that my client committed no crime, that’s when they dropped all charges and restricted his criminal record,” said Patterson.
The attorney added the force used to arrest Efford for something he could have received a ticket for was unwarranted.
“Simply because you have a badge and a gun, that doesn’t give you the right to use excessive force on anyone,” said Patterson. “Police brutality has been around as long as America has been around.”
One of the officers involved, Charles Bynum, resigned from the department while under investigation for another incident. He was arrested for false imprisonment, making terroristic threats and battery in an unrelated case. In the police report, officers wrote the victim had a recording of Bynum who said “they’re on my [expletive] team” when the victim threatened to call the police. The police report also stated Bynum threatened to shoot the victim three times.
A spokesman for Gwinnet County Police confirmed Edwards is still employed with the department and added “we can’t comment on active lawsuits.” The county has 30 days to respond to the lawsuit.