Two Georgia police officers fired for kicking, punching unarmed man during traffic stop

Gwinnett County Police Chief Butch Ayers spent Thursday firing two different officers after they punched and kicked a man they’d pulled over for a traffic violation on Wednesday.

“I’m literally sick about it,” Ayers said. “Literally sick. These aren’t the standard that we have and this is not the culture that we promote within this department.”

Both former Master Police Officer Robert McDonald and Sgt. Michael Bongiovanni were captured on video Wednesday at about 4 p.m. assaulting the man they’d pulled over, Lawrenceville resident Demetrius Bryan Hollins.

The first video surfaced Wednesday night. It showed McDonald kicking Hollins while he was handcuffed on the ground. Ayers said there was no defense for that violence.

“The fact of the matter is, the suspect was in handcuffs, the suspect was on the ground, the suspect was not resisting,” he said. “At that point, that’s it. There should have been no other application of force.”

Ayers and the rest of the command staff fired McDonald Thursday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the video was taken.

McDonald had been responding as backup to help the officer — Bongiovanni — who had pulled Hollins over. Bongiovanni wrote in the traffic report that he’d stopped Hollins because he was driving his Acura Integra without a license plate and changed lanes without a turn signal twice on Ga. Highway 29 near Patterson Road.

Bongiovanni wrote that Hollins wouldn’t stop for him and only came to a complete stop once his Acura stalled out. He also wrote in his report that he could smell marijuana coming from the driver and that Hollins refused to cooperate.

According to Bongiovanni’s report, he tased Hollins, put him on the ground and handcuffed his arms behind his back — an acceptable response to a suspect refusing to cooperate with an investigation.

That’s reportedly when McDonald showed up and kicked Hollins in the head.

But a second video surfaced online Thursday, just hours after McDonald was fired. This one showed Bongiovanni dragging Hollins out of his car before McDonald arrived on the scene. Hollins came out with his hands in the air.

Then Bongiovanni punched him in the face. He tased Hollins soon after.

After he took Hollins to jail, Bongiovanni told a supervisor that McDonald had kicked the suspect in the head. He never mentioned punching Hollins.

“The revelations uncovered in this investigation are shocking to me and my command staff,” Ayers said. “I’m glad that the second video was forwarded to us.”

The department fired Bongiovanni Thursday evening about two hours after the second video surfaced. Ayers said McDonald apologized for his actions and showed remorse. But Bongiovanni reportedly didn’t.

“(He said) ‘It’s different out there in the streets,’” Ayers said.

Ayers said neither Bongiovanni nor McDonald had been in serious trouble with the department before Thursday.

McDonald was hired in August 2013. In all of his annual performance evaluations since then, superiors described him as friendly to both his peers and suspects he encountered on patrol.

“Officer McDonald always deals with members of the community in a courteous, professional manner,” one supervisor wrote. “He deals with stressful situations in a very calm and controlled manner.”

Ayers said Bongiovanni worked in the department for 19 years. He’d been a part of the south precinct’s community response team and was named officer of the month several times.

“He has been a very effective police officer throughout his career,” Ayers said.

Now, the Gwinnett County Police Department is launching criminal investigations into the behavior of both McDonald and Bongiovanni. Both will be turned over to the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s office.

Ayers was visibly upset as he held his second press conference to talk about firing the officers Thursday evening.

“I am almost at a loss of words about what we have had to go through today for the unwarranted actions of two of my officers,” he said. “There is literally no excuse for behavior like this.”