CARROLL COUNTY, Ga. -- Villa Rica authorities are standing behind city officers seen kneeing and punching a man as they attempted to put him in handcuffs.
A video which has since spread across social media shows an incident on Saturday in which police were called to the Stix Bar and Grill. From the angle shown on the video, it appears the suspect was pinned against the car and struggling as officers attempted to hold him - all as at least two officers struck the man, later identified as 27-year-old Tyler Reynolds.
But in a statement released on Facebook, the department said that the actions of the officers were justified. Police said that the suspect began resisting them when he learned that they intended to arrest him.
"Chief Mansour and Captain Shaddix reviewed the incident including the officers’ body cameras which show that the person was indeed physically resisting the officers attempt to place him under arrest," the statement said.
They added that Villa Rica officers were called to the location three separate times during the day for the same person and handled Reynolds without making an arrest. But he was allegedly still there when they were called out yet again to reports he was harassing customers, asking for drugs, unable to pay for food he had ordered and refusing to leave.
At this point, officers offered to give him a ride to another location - with the alternative being placed under arrest. At first, he agreed to take the ride but changed his mind as he got into the police cruiser.
So police arrested Reynolds and charged him with criminal trespass - and then obstruction for the actions that followed. The police statement suggests that this is when he began resisting and they were forced to act.
"One of the officers delivered elbow strikes to his side attempting to gain compliance," the statement read. "As this failed, another officer delivered a knee strike to gain control of the person’s hands and pull them behind his back."
Police said they eventually managed to get control fo Reynolds and took him to the Villa Rica Police Department - and then the Carroll County jail. Police said he didn't complain or show signs of injuries during this time.
In addition to his existing charges, Reynolds is also a registered sex offender who was added to the registry in 2014 for statutory rape. It's unclear how - or if - that status will impact his future trial.
For now, he's still being held on $4,500 bond.
