Sheriff left detainees strapped in chairs for hours at Georgia jail, prosecutors say

A landscaper who had a dispute over pay with a deputy in Georgia found himself strapped to a restraint chair for several hours at the county jail after the sheriff intervened, federal prosecutors said.

Others had similar ordeals, according to prosecutors.

Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill is accused of frequently strapping detainees to a chair and leaving them for hours at a time in violation of their constitutional rights, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia said. An indictment charging him with federal civil rights violations was unsealed Monday, and prosecutors announced the charges Tuesday.

“Badges and guns don’t come with the authority to ignore the Constitution. They come with the responsibility to protect it from anyone who would violate it, especially another public servant,” Assistant Special Agent in Charge Christopher Macrae with the FBI in Atlanta said.

He also said Hill “abused his privileges and abandoned his responsibilities.”

Hill, 56, pleaded not guilty and was released on bond, according to The Washington Post. In a statement early Tuesday, the sheriff said he will “continue to focus on the mission of fighting crime in Clayton County for continued success.”

“Today I will begin the process of fighting a political motivated federal legal case,” Hill said. “My legal team are the only ones authorized to speak on the details of this matter, and they are confident about the facts of this case.”

His attorney, Drew Findling, told The New York Times that restraint chairs are often used in jails.

“We’re really shocked by this,” Findling said, according to The Times. “There’s no evidence or allegation of systematic violence.”

Alleged civil rights abuses

In an indictment filed under seal April 19, prosecutors outlined four instances in which Hill reportedly ordered a detainee be put in the restraint chair.

The first occurred in February 2020, when a man accused of assaulting two women at a grocery store was picked up by deputies. While he was being booked into the Clayton County jail, prosecutors said, Hill confronted him about what he was doing in Clayton County on the day of the alleged assault.

The man reportedly told him, “It’s a democracy, sir. It’s the United States.” To which Hill responded, “No, it’s not, not in my county.”

He then asked Hill if he was entitled to a fair and speedy trial.

“You entitled to sit in this chair, and you’re entitled to get the hell out of my county and don’t come back,” Hill said, according to the indictment. “That’s what you’re entitled to.”

Prosecutors said the man was handcuffed throughout most of this exchange and did not present any threat but was “strapped into a restraint chair and left there for hours per Hill’s orders.”

In April, prosecutors said a 17-year-old was arrested on charges he vandalized his mother’s home. When the Clayton County deputy who arrested him texted Hill about the case, the sheriff reportedly asked how old he was. The deputy told him 17.

“Chair” was all Hill responded, according to the indictment.

The next day, another man was arrested after a domestic disturbance. Prosecutors said the man pretended to pass out at the police station following his arrest and was taken to the hospital, where he reportedly refused treatment and left. Police officers arrested him again later that day, prosecutors said, but he didn’t comply with commands and had to be carried to the car.

Once he arrived at the jail, the man was reportedly left strapped in a restraint chair where he later peed himself because he was not allowed to go to the bathroom, prosecutors said.

Hill is accused of threatening to put him and the 17-year-old in the chair “for sixteen hours straight.”

“Do you understand me?” he told them, according to the indictment. “I need to hear from both of y’all that y’all not gonna show y’all’s a** in my county no more.”

The final incident occurred in August and involved a landscaper who reportedly did some work for a Clayton County deputy.

There was some dispute about the payment, prosecutors said, and Hill called the man to ask why he was “harassing his deputy.” The man proceeded to FaceTime the sheriff and confirm his identity. He also reportedly texted Hill.

Hill warned him not to call again or send any more texts, then told a deputy to file an arrest warrant against the man for harassing communications, prosecutors said. The sheriff texted him twice over the the next two days to tell him about the warrant and order him to turn himself in.

Prosecutors said Hill sent an armed fugitive squad to arrest the landscaper.

The man reportedly retained a lawyer and turned himself in several days later. He was seen “cooperative and compliant” on surveillance footage at the jail, prosecutors said. But when Hill arrived, he was “immediately strapped into a restraint chair and left there for several hours per Hill’s orders.”

Contentious past

Hill refers to himself as “THE CRIME FIGHTER” on Twitter and talks about “the aggressive tactics of his “elite Fugitive squad,” NPR reported.

He was first elected in 2004 but lost his re-election bid for the following term, according to The Post. Hill was subsequently indicted on 27 public corruption charges stemming from allegations he siphoned off county resources for vacations and stole funds from his election campaign.

A jury acquitted him on all 27 charges, according to The Times.

The sheriff was indicted again in 2015 on charges of misdemeanor reckless conduct after he shot a woman at a model home, according to NPR. Both parties reportedly agreed it was an accident, and Hill pleaded no contest.

He’s also been named in a civil lawsuit alleging he didn’t protect inmates at the county jail from the coronavirus, NPR reported.