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By Dan Gooding
Associate News Editor
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A former Georgia judg, dismissed over the alleged assault of a police officer and other misconduct, claimed Wednesday it was the police department punishing her for protecting another woman.
Douglas County announced that Christina Peterson had been dismissed from her role as a probate judge on Tuesday, just a few days after an incident outside an Atlanta nightclub.
Atlanta Police Department released bodyworn camera footage after detaining the 38-year-old in the early hours of Thursday, showing her verbally abusing and then making physical contact with a police officer.
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Peterson told the Atlanta-based WVEE radio station that she was trying to help a woman she saw being attacked by another man. She had rushed over and was trying to get the woman out of his grasp when the police intervened.
"The officer said nothing to me... he knocked me. He knocked me out," she told the radio station. "He didn't say anything to me. He didn't give me any commands. He didn't say he was an officer."
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The Atlanta Police Department said Peterson repeatedly brushed the officer's arms away and pushed him twice before he detained her outside the Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge on Peachtree Road.
The footage released by the department showed Peterson on the ground outside the club as she was handcuffed, and then in the back of a police car refusing to give the officer her name.
"I can't go too much into it, but what I think the officer was doing was trying to cover up his improper acts," Peterson told the station. "He rode around with me for seven hours. He arrested me at three o'clock, and I didn't get to the jail until almost 11."
The former judge claims that she was not arrested on suspicion of battery until this later time. She was also accused of obstructing a law enforcement officer.
Newsweek reached out to APD for further comment Wednesday afternoon but is yet to receive a response.
All of this came after Peterson had faced months of scrutiny for her actions while in her position as Douglas County's probate judge.
An investigation was already underway into 28 accusations of misconduct against Peterson when Thursday's incident occurred.
On Tuesday, the Georgia Supreme Court issued a decision removing her from office early, with her original term due to end later this year.
"Honestly, I was in expectation of it... I was in anticipation of it. I have been attacked since I've been in office," she told WVEE, explaining that she believed the decision to remove her was targeted.
"They tried me in a court of public opinion instead of really looking at and seeing if I did anything. Nothing I have done has been willful or misconduct," Peterson argued.
Douglas County said Tuesday that it was looking for a new probate judge and that there would be a small delay in cases in the meantime.
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