Ex-cop broke Walmart customer's leg over 'stolen' tomato. But he didn't steal it

A former officer with the Atlanta Police Department will spend five years in jail after a jury convicted him of using unreasonable force to arrest a Walmart customer he thought had stolen a single tomato from the store, WSB-TV reported.

Prosecutors say former Atlanta Police Department Sergeant Trevor King broke two bones in 53-year-old Tyrone Carnegay's leg after accusing him of stealing a tomato from an Atlanta Walmart in October of 2014.

Prosecutors say Carnegay had the receipt for the tomato in his pocket and that the officer filed a false police report alleging Carnegay assaulted him.

"Law enforcement officers all over the country work tirelessly every day to protect the public from violence,” wrote John Gore, acting assistant attorney general of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Department in a news release. “This defendant violated the law and his oath as a police officer when he unjustifiably beat a man with a baton, breaking the man’s leg, because he wrongly believed that the man had stolen a tomato. The Department of Justice will continue to protect all citizens from violations of their constitutional right to safety and security.”

The incident started after King, who was reportedly off-duty and working as a security guard at the time, noticed Carnegay weighing a tomato and then walking back to the exit, according to a police report obtained by WXIA.

King wrote in his report that Carnegay was asked to return the tomato by an employee, then tried to force his way past King when he was confronted, according to the station.

Carnegay reportedly told the officer he had paid for the tomato, a statement the Department of Justice says the officer ignored.

The officer wrote in his report that Carnegay reached for King's weapon several times, which was why he had to use his baton to beat him, according to WXIA.

Surveillance video shows the officer holding Carnegay at arm's length and striking him in the leg several times with a baton.

"As the victim lay on the Walmart floor bleeding from his injuries, King searched the victim and found a receipt for the tomato in the victim’s bag. The receipt showed that the victim paid for the tomato only minutes before King’s attack," the DOJ wrote in a news release. "King then wrote a false report to cover up his unjustified assault.."

Prosecutors say King charged Carnegay with obstructing a shoplifting investigation and assaulting a police officer, according to the DOJ. The charges were later dismissed.

Carnegay filed a civil lawsuit against King, a Walmart employee and the retailer in 2016, saying the reaction was unjustified and that he had no time to react.

"Before I could do anything, he started beating me," Carnegay told WXIA. "He's giving a verbal command, but as he's giving the verbal command, he's beating the mess out of me."

Carnegay's lawyer told WSB-TV the incident could have been avoided if someone had just asked him to produce a receipt.

"“Somebody could have come up to him and said, ‘Excuse me sir, do you have (a) receipt for that tomato?’ and he would've shown him the receipt,” his attorney Craig Jones told the station. “The officer went into Robocop mode and beat the crap out of him.”

King retired from the Atlanta Police Department in January of 2017 and a criminal trial began a few months later, which ended in a mistrial, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was convicted in December after a second trial.

“It is extremely disheartening when a law enforcement officer abuses his or her authority and the public’s trust,” David J. LeValley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, wrote in a press release. “The actions of this officer are especially insulting to the vast majority of those in law enforcement who work so hard with integrity and commitment within the criminal justice system. The FBI will continue to dedicate significant resources to investigate allegations of public corruption involving police officers.”

In March of 2018, an officer in Bellflower, Calif., faced backlash after pulling a gun on a suspect he thought was shoplifting a pack of Mentos. The customer had paid for the candy.

This story was originally published May 7, 2018 at 1:09 PM with the headline "Ex-cop broke Walmart customer's leg over 'stolen' tomato. But he didn't steal it."