An Athens-Clarke County police officer assaulted a University of Georgia student outside a downtown fraternity house in June, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Athens Banner-Herald reported.
Officer Jonathan Fraser responded to an early-morning call June 13 about an intoxicated person trespassing at the Marriott Courtyard motel.
Fraser wrote in a report that he escorted the person, Michael Roquet, to his residence at the Phi Kappa Tau house next door, where Roquet grabbed Fraser’s wrist and hit him in the chest. Fraser pepper-sprayed Roquet as Roquet continued to attack him, and struck Roquet with his baton, according to Fraser’s account.
Roquet claimed that Fraser attacked him, and former interim police chief Carter Greene called in the GBI to investigate. GBI sided with Roquet’s account.
Police Chief Scott Freeman, who took over the department July 6, said Fraser was fired on July 7.
He was charged with two felonies—aggravated assault and violating his oath—and turned himself in to the Clarke County Jail on Tuesday, where he was released on a $30,000 bond.
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