One deputy sheriff has resigned, and another is under investigation after the violent takedown of a Black man accused of trespassing at a gas station in Georgia. In a viral video capturing the incident around 10 p.m. on Aug. 3, Calvin Brown, 58, is seen standing in a parking lot and telling Baldw in County Deputy Sheriff Joseph Harker that he was a passenger in a car that broke down at the Texaco gas station on Vinson Highway in Milledgeville. Harker tells Brown, “Calvin, you know you’re not supposed to be on the property, right?” Calvin Brown, 58, was arrested after allegedly trespassing at a Texaco gas station in Milledgeville, Georgia on Aug. 3, 2026. (Photo: Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office video screenshot). ‘God Led Me in There’: Black Man Says He Tried to Get Gun Off Chicago Streets, Only to Have Cops Point 10 Guns at Him and Lock Him Up for Months  Police Interaction Turns Chaotic Brown, a homeless man Baldwin deputies had previously trespassed from the store, says he was in the car parked in the lot with the hood up and was trying to fix it. “Yeah, but you’re not supposed to be here,” Harker responded. “You got to come with me.” “He gave me a ride, sir. … And the car tore up.” After more back and forth, the deputy tells Brown, “There’s two ways this is going to go. … peacefully or not peacefully. Do you want to do this peacefully?” Brown insisted he was “doing it peacefully,” and offered, “They didn’t say I couldn’t ride in nobody’s car? I can’t tell him not to go to the store.” “You can tell him you are not supposed to be on this property,” Harker replied. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Atlanta Black Star (@atlblackstar) Then Brown turned and tried to flee on foot from the officer, who wrote in an incident report that he was able to grab the back of Brown’s shirt, fling him to the ground and climb on his back, WGXA reported. A Violent Takedown A physical altercation ensued for several minutes, during which Harker straddled Brown and punched him several times in the face. Bodycam video captures him telling Brown, “Show me your hands.” His incident report says that he gave “clear commands” to “stop fighting.” The deputy reported that Brown rolled from under him, causing him to fall on his back, and also bit him on his left arm, not breaking the skin. He said he warned Brown he would punch and tase him if he didn’t comply. “Calvin continued to actively resist, resulting in me delivering several closed hand strikes to his face in an attempt to gain compliance and effect an arrest,” Harker wrote in the report. “What’d you hit me for? I ain’t hit you, man!” Brown can be heard saying in the video, as blood can be seen pooling in Brown’s mouth. Brown then rolled again, allowing him to straddle the deputy. “I’ll beat you,” Brown appears to say, throwing a punch that the deputy blocks. Harker said in his report that he saw people watching the altercation and asked them for help, “in fear” for his safety. One bystander who was recording the incident on his phone refused to help, he said. At that point, Brown began to choke the deputy, Harker wrote, restricting his ability to breathe, and he yelled out, “Help! He’s choking me!” Two bystanders, later identified as Calig Jones and Cornelius Barnes, ran over and pulled Brown off the deputy, who wrote that Brown kneed him in the chest as they did so. Harker said he then pulled out his taser and delivered a charge to Brown’s lower abdomen, stunning him. Brown was then handcuffed, arrested, and put in a patrol car. Supervisor Approves of Beating When Lt. Chance Rogers arrived on the scene, the video shows Harker recounting the episode, telling him, “I punched him in the face about eight times.” “I don’t care,” said Rogers. “I’m just letting you know,” said Harker. “I don’t care if you punched him, kicked him, choked him out,” Rogers replied. “Well, he put his hands around my neck and started to squeeze when those two came up,” Harker explained. Brown was taken to jail and charged with several crimes, including felony counts of aggravated assault and willful obstruction of law enforcement, as well as one misdemeanor count of criminal trespass. Baldwin County Sheriff Bill Massee told reporters a few days later that Brown had previously been arrested 47 times over the years on charges ranging from misdemeanor crimes to aggravated assault, the Union Recorder reported. Sheriff Asks for Independent Investigation Massee said the encounter began as “an extremely polite conversation” that “went downhill” once Harker told Brown he was going to be arrested, and Brown began fighting the deputy. The sheriff said Harker has been placed on administrative leave with pay while the Georgia Bureau of Investigation conducts an independent use-of-force investigation of the incident. He said he wouldn’t comment on Harker’s conduct until the GBI “makes a determination of whether we are in violation of any of our policies or if this is a clean arrest situation.” Massee did, however, tell reporters that he thought the comments of Lt. Rogers made at the scene endorsing the beating and choking of Brown were unacceptable. Rogers submitted his resignation to the chief deputy on Aug. 10, writing that he was leaving for “personal reasons.” Attorney Questions Level Of Force Used Nationally prominent civil rights attorneys Harry Daniels and Gerald Griggs have been retained by Brown to investigate the incident. Griggs told Atlanta Black Star that Harker used unnecessary force against Brown, who suffered cuts and bruising to his face and a busted lip. “He could have easily told Mr. Brown that he was trespassed from the store, and told him to go away, or he could have cited him, given him a ticket in lieu of arrest,” Griggs said. “Even when taking him into custody, he didn’t have to escalate it to that level of force and start punching him in the face.” Griggs also said that his preliminary investigation indicates that Brown’s criminal trespass was for the interior of the store, not the parking lot. “If it turns out there was no criminal trespass for the exterior of the lot, then under Georgia law, Mr. Brown has the absolute right to resist the unlawful arrest,” Griggs said. He believes the police video also casts doubt on the degree to which Brown, who was unarmed, resisted the officer. “From what we see from all angles, I don’t see an angle where he bit anybody,” Griggs said. “So I’m trying to reconcile how we got from I’m taking you into custody and have you on the ground to punching you in the face. So I think there’s some grave concerns about the level of force and the escalation.” Attorney Questions Sheriff’s Office Response Griggs said the firm is working to “lock down a few of the independent witnesses,” including the person who filmed the initial encounter, and people who were inside the store. Of Rogers’ resignation, Griggs said the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office should have taken disciplinary action against the officer before he did so. “I think that level of response is not proper in any form of policing in Georgia,” Griggs said. “So he should have been terminated, as opposed to him being allowed to resign.” The Baldwin County NAACP, which originally posted some of the police body cam video online, said in a statement on Sunday that it will continue to follow and provide updates on the incident “to explain our ongoing concerns regarding accountability, transparency, and the conduct of the officers involved.” “We acknowledge the action taken regarding Lieutenant Rodgers. However, our concerns regarding Officer Joseph Harker remain, and we believe the circumstances surrounding this incident require an independent and thorough review” by the GBI. “We are also calling for appropriate disciplinary action if the investigation determines that violations of law, departmental policies, procedures, training requirements, or professional standards occurred.” ‘This Could Go Two Ways!’: Georgia Cop Beats Black Man to Bloody Pulp Over Alleged Trespassing in Parking Lot and Supervisor’s Reaction Says It All  ...read more read less