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Supervisor of officer accused of assaulting man in traffic stop testifies against him

Robert McDonald has already lost his job. The trial will determine if he'll do time behind bars.

Eyewitnesses took the stand Tuesday as the trial for a former Gwinnett County police officer accused of assaulting a man during a traffic stop continued. 

Robert McDonald is charged with assault, battery and violating his oath of office. He has already lost his job. The trial will determine if he'll do time behind bars.

The case is connected to a traffic stop in April of 2017. It was captured on cell phone videos and sparked a considerable storm on social media once it was shared. 

In the video, the driver, Demetrius Hollins, was stopped by Officer Michael Bongiovanni and McDonald. Witnesses testified Monday that when Hollins stepped out of the car, Bongiovanni punched him in the face while not appearing to resist. 

At some point, Hollins is forced to the ground, and prosecutors say this is when McDonald ran up with his gun drawn and kicked the driver.

Bongiovanni, McDonald's supervisor, was also fired as the result of the traffic stop. He took a plea deal to avoid prison time, and as part of that, had to testify against McDonald.

On Tuesday, Bongiovanni took the stand.

Bongiovanni's testimony comes after several people who said they witnessed what happened took the stand Monday.

One witness described seeing what she called an animated conversation between an officer and the driver.

RELATED: Former officer accused of stomping suspect's head now on trial

Another witness said before the driver was hit, he spotted an officer tase the man.

A third witness said she then spotted another officer - who was identified as McDonald - running up as the driver laid on the ground with handcuffs on. 

Credit: Gwinnett County Police Department
Robert McDonald

RELATED: An officer stomped a man's head into the ground. Now his former partner will testify against him.

"The victim that was handcuffed was facing me, so I could see his face and the officer comes running down and slams his foot into the side of the victim's face, then proceeds to kneel on him, pulled out his gun stuck it to the side temple of his face and I could hear him basically say don't move or I'm going to shoot," Anna Eubank said.

Demetrius Hollins,

Prosecutors asked the witness if the handcuffed man - while on the ground - tried to hit or kick anyone, but she said no.

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