A Hall County sheriff's deputy in Georgia has been fired and arrested after allegedly slapping a 4-year-old child in Flowery Branch so hard that people in other rooms heard it through the walls, according to Oakwood police. The child is not being named; only his age and city are reported, in line with protections for young victims.

Source: AccessNorthGA

Martin Simmons, 46, was charged with battery under the Family Violence Act and third-degree cruelty to children, the Oakwood Police Department said. The allegations have not been proven in court. The Hall County Sheriff's Office dismissed Simmons on October 14, after a judge issued arrest warrants, sheriff's office spokeswoman B.J. Williams said.

Source: WGTJ Radio (WDUN, Gainesville)

According to the Oakwood police incident report, the alleged incident happened at about 8 p.m. on September 9 in a bedroom of an apartment on Harwood Road in Flowery Branch, about 40 miles northeast of Atlanta. Lieutenant Stewart Webb said Simmons was putting the child to bed and the child was crying because he did not want to sleep. Another adult in the home tried to intervene and stood between Simmons and the children, police said.

Police said the alleged slap left a visible handprint on the left side of the child's face, with swelling and reddish abrasions, and purple bruising appeared the following day. The investigation began after the Georgia Department of Family and Child Services reported suspected child abuse, and the sheriff's office asked Oakwood police to conduct the criminal investigation while it ran a separate internal inquiry.

Simmons joined the sheriff's office as a jailer in July 2023, graduated from the police academy in September 2024 and moved to patrol, and had recently been promoted to investigator and was still in training for that role when he was fired, according to the sheriff's office. He was arrested and later released on bond, and no next court date has been announced, according to Law&Crime's reporting on the criminal complaint.

Source: Law&Crime via Internewscast