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A former Gwinnett County Georgia police officer accused of beating up an unarmed Black man cut a plea deal against his partner who was also caught on video carrying out the brutal assault.
Former Sgt. Michael Bongiovanni and then Officer Robert McDonald punched then kicked Demetrius Hollins in the head while he was handcuffed in 2017.
Hollins was not able to record, but ultimately, two videos surfaced of the two officers beating him down, which backed up his version of what took place.
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On Tuesday, Bongiovanni pled no contest to aggravated assault and battery charges two weeks before his trial was set to begin, Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter said.
As part of the deal, the disgraced cop will spend six months in jail on a work release program, the AJC reports. After he’s completed his six-month bid, Bongiovanni will be on house arrest for an additional five months, tethered to an ankle monitor, Porter said.
Bongiovanni’s plea deal puts his partner in a bad predicament. McDonald’s trial hasn’t been set.
The officers were fired after the video of the violent encounter surfaced.
During a traffic stop, the police encountered Hollis and hit him in the face and taunted that there was no video evidence to prove it.
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“He start(ed) shoving me in my car and telling me that I was never going to have a video, that I was never going to make the phone call to my mom,” Hollins told NBC News previously. “When I had my hands up, that’s when he punched me in the face.”
“It was so surreal,” Hollins said of the attack.
Gwinnett Police Chief Butch Ayers said McDonald was remorseful, however, Bongiovanni wasn’t and said in his defense, “It’s different out on the streets.”
The videos showed that Hollis didn’t resist arrest as the officers had previously stated. According to an incident report. Hollis was stopped for failure to have a license plate and changing lanes multiple times without signaling.