Foul-mouthed Georgia judge arrested after allegedly pushing Atlanta cop outside nightclub
A foul-mouthed Georgia probate judge allegedly pushed an Atlanta cop twice outside a nightclub and then refused to identify herself after she was arrested, according to police and bodycam footage.
Douglas County Judge Christina Peterson, 38, was cuffed and placed in the back of a cop cruiser early Thursday for battery against a police officer.
Cops said she interfered with a police officer trying to de-escalate a situation in which a security guard working at Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge attempted to escort another woman outside, according to 11 Alive News.
“Let her f–cking go, let her f–cking go,” Peterson yells at the guard and police officer, according to the footage released by Atlanta police and obtained by local outlets.
Police said the footage then shows Peterson, a Democrat, push the officer, who was working an approved extra job, in the chest twice and swipe at his hands during the commotion around 3 a.m., leading to her arrest.
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The officer takes Peterson to the ground and slaps handcuffs on her as a crowd forms around them, according to the clip.
The video, presented by Fox 5 Atlanta, later cuts to Peterson refusing to identify herself as the officer pleads for her name.
“You don’t need an identification,” she said angrily. “You have picked up dead bodies when you don’t know who bodies it was, but you picked them up. Take me where you need to take me.”
“I’m trying to,” the cop replies as the two continued to argue.
At one point, the judge suggested the officer Google her, to which the cop replied, “What’s your name so I can Google you.”
Other parts of the footage show Peterson at the police station as she complains and curses about the cop taking her by the arm while they walked, and then later in another police vehicle, when she is told the charges against her.
Peterson, who was allegedly under the influence during the interaction, per a police report obtained by Fox 5 Atlanta, is facing simple battery against a police officer and obstruction of a law enforcement officer charges.
But Peterson’s legal team, in an emotional press conference following the arrest, claimed she was just being a good Samaritan.
Her lawyer, Fulton County Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr., said his client was trying to defend the woman who police said was being escorted out, identified as Alexandria Love, outside the nightclub because she was being “viciously” attacked by an unidentified man.
Arrington said he believes she will be “totally exonerated” in the case and called for all the footage of the incident to be released.
Love said during the press conference carried by Fox 5 Atlanta that the unidentified man accused her of cutting him on a food truck line, sparking the disturbance.
“He viciously attacked me, punched me in my face and Judge Peterson was the only one to help me,” she said.
She also claimed Peterson did not know she was putting her hands on a police officer.
Peterson, who took office in 2020, was previously found guilty of “systemic incompetence” by a judicial panel in April, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.
Bodycam Shows Infamous Georgia Judge Arrested After Nightclub Brawl
Published
Jun 24, 2024 at 01:58 PM EDT
updated
Jun 24, 2024 at 02:37 PM EDT
By Dan Gooding
Politics Reporter
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
A Georgia judge was allegedly caught on camera screaming at a police officer before pushing him outside a nightclub and then refusing to reveal her identity.
Police in Atlanta have released the footage of Christina Peterson’s arrest in the early hours of Thursday morning, showing her continuing to shout at officers in the back of a patrol car.
Peterson is a probate judge in Douglas County, Georgia, who has faced previous accusations of “systemic incompetence” in her role. In April, the Judicial Qualifications Commission voted 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.
On Thursday morning, an APD officer was working an approved extra job at the club on Peachtree Road, the department said, when he overheard a commotion nearby.
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Douglas County Judge Christina J. Peterson was arrested at a club in Atlanta early Thursday June 20 2024 | Douglas County, GA/Douglas County, GA
He spotted security escorting a woman out of the venue and went to help de-escalate the situation.
“An unidentified female, later identified as 38-year-old Christina Peterson rushed toward the commotion and immediately started screaming at the security guard and the officer,” APD said in a statement.
“Ms. Peterson then forcibly pushed the officer in the chest and kept swiping his hands away as he attempted to assist the female being escorted out.”
Two hours of body-cam footage provided to Newsweek shows Peterson shouting at the officer to let the other woman go, before shoving him. She was then put onto the ground and handcuffed.
The video also shows Peterson in the back of a police car.
“Take me where you need to take me,” she can be heard saying repeatedly, while refusing to give officers her name.
“They can take a fingerprint and they can find out who I am,” Peterson is then heard telling the officer in the background.
Douglas County probate judge Christina Peterson seen in the back of an Atlanta Police Department car on June 20, 2024, following her arrest. Footage a…Read More | Atlanta Police Department/Atlanta Police Department
“Play with your momma, play with somebody else,” she told the officer, adding that he should Google her and find out who she is.
The police footage then showed the Democrat judge being booked into custody by officers, whom she told not to touch her.
Peterson was arrested on suspicion of battery and obstruction of a law enforcement officer.
Her bond, set at $5,000, was paid and she was released the same day.
Newsweek reached out to Douglas County for further comment Thursday and Monday, but is yet to receive a response.
The woman the officer originally went to assist in the incident spoke at a press conference Friday and said Peterson was the only one who helped her as she was attacked by another man.
“She didn’t mean to hit the officer,” Alexandria Love said. “The officer swooped in and grabbed me up. So when she saw him grabbing me, she didn’t know it was the officer. She thought I was still being hurt and attacked.”
Peterson’s attorney, Marvin S. Arrington Jr., spoke at the press conference, saying that in the heat of the moment a lot happened and that APD should investigate the man who allegedly assaulted Love.
Newsweek approached the attorney Monday morning for further comment.
A spokesperson for the department told Newsweek on Monday morning that they had nothing further to add at this time.
