Former DeKalb Jailer Indicted for Taser Incidents

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A former DeKalb County jail worker has been indicted on federal charges for allegedly using a taser on inmates without cause and then filing false reports to justify the attacks, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.

Prosecutors claim that Dwight Hamilton, formerly a sergeant and shift supervisor with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, used excessive force on two occasions in January of 2012 by tasering inmates several times without reason, injuring them.

Hamilton is also accused of writing up false incident reports meant to justify his using of the taser on the inmates. One report falsely claimed an inmate had stepped towards him right before he used the taser, prosecutors said. Another report allegedly omitted that Hamilton used more than three discharges of his taser on an inmate.

Hamilton was indicted on Wednesday and arraigned in federal court on Thursday, prosecutors said. The 51-year-old is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.