Macon settles lawsuit claiming officer beating

The city of Macon has reached a settlement with a man who alleged that two Macon police officers beat him up outside the Bibb County jail for no reason in 2008.

Clemmie Williams Jr., 51, had filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia in November 2010 seeking compensatory damages; money to pay past, present and future medical bills; and punitive damages from the city and police officers Antoinne Jordan and Lisa Sapp.

Messages left for Tom Richardson, the attorney representing Macon and the two officers, were not returned Tuesday. In response to the suit, Richardson had argued that the officers acted “on the basis of probable cause and self-defense,” according to a court document.

In a letter written to the U.S. District Court clerk, Richardson said that the case had been settled and that a dismissal would be filed in the coming weeks.

Joshua Carroll, Williams’ attorney, said Jordan, the officer mainly involved in the case, no longer works for the police department.

“It got to a point where Mr. Williams was satisfied that he wasn’t there and was willing to settle,” Carroll said.

Terms of the settlement have not been released.

Jordan was terminated in late 2010 after a series of incidents, said Jami Gaudet, a police spokeswoman. Ultimately, he was dismissed for sleeping on duty, she said.

Sapp is still employed by the department.

Police reviewed a Bibb County Sheriff’s Office surveillance tape and didn’t find evidence of excessive force being used against Williams. A police internal affairs review board also examined the case and didn’t find enough evidence to sustain a charge of excessive force, Gaudet said.

In his complaint, Williams said he posted bail Nov. 5, 2008, after being charged with a seat belt violation, driving on a suspended license and two counts of obstruction of a police officer. As a part of his release from the Bibb County jail, he asked for his belongings and was told that the officers who had arrested him still had his identification card.

A deputy at the jail asked the officers to return to the jail to give Williams his ID. When Jordan and Sapp arrived, Jordan parked his police cruiser in the middle of Hawthorne Street at the back of the jail, and Williams approached the driver’s side of the car, according to the suit.

Then, Williams said, Jordan got out of the car and started an attack on Williams that included punching, his being thrown against a nearby vehicle and wrestled to the ground. Williams alleged that he was choked and thrown to the ground after he was handcuffed, causing him to strike his head on concrete, according to the suit.

Afterward, Williams was charged with two counts of felony obstruction and re-booked into the county jail.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398.

This story was originally published April 27, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Macon settles lawsuit claiming officer beating."