MACON, Ga. — Former Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis started his Tuesday in the 13WMAZ studio shooting an episode of Close Up with Randall Savage, but later, he nearly ended the day in jail.
"He cuffed me and stuffed me in the back of a police cruiser, and off to the LEC I went," says Ellis.
This happened after Ellis called a news conference to talk about an abundance of trash piling up around the Creekside Apartments in east Macon.
"The management said I was on private property, which I wasn't. I was on the street. The city owns those streets," says Ellis.
Minutes later, Bibb deputies arrived, asking Ellis and reporters to leave.
As they all began packing up, Ellis says he turned around to give something to a friend who lives at Creekside. He says that's when a deputy put him the cruiser.
"He told me, 'You're being charged with criminal trespassing. That's all you need to know,' and he tightened those handcuffs and put me in the back of the police car," says Ellis.
When they arrived at the jail, Sheriff David Davis says he stepped in and deputies did not book Ellis into jail.
"They did what they thought was appropriate," says Davis.
Davis says his deputies were doing their best to "defuse" a tense situation. He says a bit of a "gray area" whether the street that runs through the complex is a public space.
"Now what we have is a trespassing charge of which is a little bit murky," says Davis.
Davis says there is not enough evidence to charge Ellis with anything.
Ellis says he just doesn't want this to happen to other people.
"The thought that went through my mind is, 'What happens to the average young man or woman who encounters police officers and are treated that way?'" says Ellis.
Davis says they are conducting an internal investigation, but says the deputies involved are not suspended or on leave.
Ellis says he filed a formal internal affairs complaint Wednesday morning.
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