An attorney for a man dropped on his head by Georgia deputies during a wrongful arrest says they are considering legal action against the sheriff’s office and its staff.

Hall County Sheriff’s deputies dropped Dewon Greer on his head while they were escorting him through the jail last September, leaving him with permanent damage to his eye. However, Greer and his attorney said he should not have been arrested in the first place. 

Georgia State Police officers pulled Greer over for a cracked taillight and discovered his license was suspended for unpaid child support. However, he had paid his child support in full, and he had documents in his car to prove it.

Greer said the police refused to look at the documents and took him to the Hall County jail, where he was handed over to sheriff’s deputies.

“The fundamental duty of law enforcement is to serve the communities they have been sworn to protect,” attorney LaRhonda Nicks told Atlanta Black Star. “In the case of Mr. Greer, it appears, based on surveillance footage, that there was no effort by the officers involved to deescalate this situation.”

Edited body-worn camera footage obtained by Atlanta Black Star shows at least six officers escorting a handcuffed Greer down a hall and into a small cell. There, they dropped him to the floor on his head after ordering him to get on his knees.

“Oh, he’s bleeding! He’s bleeding,” a female officer says.

“I thought you had his shoulder,” one officer says.

“I thought you had his shoulder!” another officer says.

“Knocked his a– out good,” a female officer says. 

Greer was reportedly knocked unconscious. When he woke, he had a large knot on his eye.

“Somebody take a picture of that blood!” Greer yelled as he was escorted out of the cell by deputies.

One of his eyes was swollen shut after, and now he has a lazy eye among other long-lasting injuries from the ordeal. He was charged with driving with a suspended or revoked license, failure to provide insurance, failure to maintain lane, issuing a terrorist threat and a cracked tail light. 

All of the charges have been dropped, but Greer has been left with a license citation for $200, a spokesperson for the Greer family told Atlanta Black Star.

“Now Mr. Greer has suffered multiple permanent injuries at the hands of these officers, and our legal team intends to explore every possible remedy available to the Greers,” Nix said.

Greer was on his way to meet his wife on the dock for one of their many mini getaways on their boat. State police officers refused to let Greer get the documents from the car, so his wife rushed to the scene to see if she could help.

Constance Greer asked officers if she could retrieve the documents from the car for her husband, but they wouldn’t let her.

“When my husband was taken into custody by Hall County law enforcement, he did not have a busted up face with a deformed eye,” she told Atlanta Black Star. “There should never be an excuse for officers to physically abuse inmates, and this seems to be the culture nowadays.”

Greer also has to deal with the psychological effects of the arrest, he said.

“As a Black man and a parent of young Black boys, I understand the importance of teaching my children respect for law enforcement,” he told Atlanta Black Star. “But it is hard to have respect for those who misuse their power and abuse those they are supposed to protect and serve.”