Georgia sheriff’s deputies claim they never choked Jozzi Rainey before punching her in the face and throwing her to the ground where she landed face-first against the asphalt, chipping a tooth and leaving her nose and mouth bloodied.
But body camera footage released last week shows Bibb County Sheriff’s Deputy Frederick Gray grabbing the Black woman by her neck in a firm grasp before she grabbed his arm and pushed it away from herself.
Gray responded by punching her in the face and slamming her to the ground. Rainey filed a lawsuit against Gray in May, accusing him of excessive force as well as assault and battery.
But it took almost five months for the agency to release the body camera footage and only because the Macon Telegraph newspaper obtained it through a public records request.
The incident took place on June 11, 2022 after Rainey was involved in a two-car accident. Bibb County Sheriff’s deputies showed up and determined she had been drinking and were ordering her to get into the back of a patrol car.
But she kept walking away, demanding to know why they were trying to detain her. She was also insulting Gray, who is also Black, with racial epithets, calling him a “coon” and an “Uncle Tom.”
That was when Gray grabbed her by the neck before punching her and slamming her to the ground.