CAMDEN COUNTY, Ga. — A civil rights attorney is once again calling for an investigation into the Camden County Sheriff's Office after two recent incidents involving the alleged physical abuse of inmates.
Attorney Harry Daniels represents Zyaire Ratliff, the 23-year-old Black man who was allegedly beaten by Camden County Sheriff’s Deputy Jacoby Anderson.
Anderson was arrested and charged with simple battery and Violation of Oath of Office by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) last week.
Attorney Harry Daniels says video of the incident shows Anderson throwing Ratliff to the ground and punching him repeatedly before another officer intervenes to stop him before handcuffing Ratliff and placing him in solitary confinement.
Daniels says Ratliff, a practicing Muslim, was observing Ramadan at the time, a one-month period of fasting and prayer. He had approached Anderson to ask about getting a proposed visitation approved.
Daniels also represents Jarett Hobbs, whose beating in September resulted in one deputy and two detention officers being indicted earlier this month.
“They say that once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence and three times is enemy action,” said Daniels. “That’s exactly what we have here... This isn’t a couple of bad apples. This is a bad apple tree.”
In November, Daniels requested that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate the CCSO in light of the Hobbs and James incidents. He is now renewing his call for an investigation.