A controversial Georgia judge was arrested early Thursday morning after allegedly hitting a police officer on the head and refusing to identify herself outside a nightclub in Atlanta.
Douglas County Judge Christina Peterson was charged with simple battery victim against a police officer at the Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge on Peachtree Street.
Atlanta Police said that the arrest occurred after a 911 call to a business at 3179 Peachtree Road NE, which is the address of Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge.
Warrants from the Fulton County Magistrate Court stated that Peterson allegedly “struck an officer with a closed fist.” The court documents also revealed that the officer was investigating a dispute between two people at the Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge. Warrants stated that Peterson was not involved in the initial altercation.
It was not immediately clear what led to the arrest, but officials told local media that there had been an early morning incident at the Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge on Peachtree Road.
Atlanta Police said that the arrest occurred after a 911 call to a business at 3179 Peachtree Road NE, which is the address of Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge.
Warrants from the Fulton County Magistrate Court stated that Peterson allegedly “struck an officer with a closed fist.” The court documents also revealed that the officer was investigating a dispute between two people at the Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge. Warrants stated that Peterson was not involved in the initial altercation.
But Peterson’s attorney, Marvin Arrington Jr, said the arrest and charges weren’t justified because Peterson was trying to help a woman who was being attacked by a man.
“The judge did nothing more than try to help. The fiancé of the judge’s friend and another person are all eyewitnesses that will confirm what both the young lady who was being assaulted said and what her friend said, that the judge had nothing to do and they let the young man who was assaulting the lady go” Arrington Jr. said.
He adds all charges should be dropped. They plan on addressing the arrest and charges on Friday afternoon.
Judge Peterson has something of a notorious reputation in Georgia. In April, she was found guilty of “systemic incompetence,” with the Judicigl Qualifications Commission voting unanimously that she be ousted from office, following 30 counts of misconduct.
The three-person panel had found she ignored courthouse rules, abused personnel and made inappropriate posts on social media.
At one point, Peterson jailed a woman who was trying to amend her marriage certificate to include the real name of her recently discovered father. The woman ended up serving two of the 20 days of her sentence before her husband was able to pay her fine.
“Such a hasty and shockingly disproportionate reaction is the hallmark of [Peterson’s] intemperance,” the panel wrote about the incident.
The judge also received complaints after allowing a wedding after hours without sheriff’s office deputies present, and for pressing a panic button unnecessarily.
During the panel’s hearings, Peterson complained that she had not received enough recognition since taking on her role in 2020.
“I’m the first African American female judge who was a Democrat,” she testified. “I was never celebrated or congratulated.”
The panel disagreed with those arguments, and recommended she be removed from office.
“(Judges) are expected to act in a manner that promotes the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary,” the commission’s report read.”Respondent has shown that she cannot — or will not — do so. And so she must go.”
While the Douglas County panel made its recommendation for her removal, the Georgia Supreme Court is yet to decide her fate.
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