The indictment accuses Henry County Police Department officers Robert Butera and Quinton Phillips and former Hampton Police Department officers Mason Lewis, Marcus Stroud and Gregory Bowlden in Rodriguez’s death on September 20, 2019, following contact with police outside a concert at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The indictment, handed down by a Henry County grand jury Friday night, charges all five officers with one count of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault, and violation of oath of office.
A spokeswoman for the Henry County District Attorney’s office said arrest warrants for the five officers were issued Monday morning. Each officer will be held on $100,000 bond and must turn himself in by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, the spokeswoman said.
The five-page indictment says that Rodriguez died of asphyxiation. Body-camera footage shows him walking down a street fully naked, away from the officers when they tased him more than a dozen times.
The indictment accuses the officers of contributing to Rodriguez’s death by stretching him out “on the ground in a prone position, while he was handcuffed and shackled, holding him down and applying pressure to his body, contrary” to state laws.
“Rodriguez, who lived in the Atlanta area, was leaving the Imagine Music Festival at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton when officers encountered him,” the district attorney’s office said in a press release. “In addition to holding his naked body down on the ground, the officers struck Rodriguez more than a dozen times with their Tasers.”
In an interview with CNN on Monday, the Rodriguez family attorney called video of the incident “revolting.”
“This is a clear civil rights violation, and apparently the DA agrees,” family attorney Page Pate said.
The City of Hampton has already settled a multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit, according to Pate. The city did not respond to requests for comment.
“They paid the family $3 million as soon as they saw the complaint,” Pate said, adding that he anticipates Henry County to settle a similar suit.
Two lawyers representing the officers in their civil lawsuits did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. Criminal defense attorneys for the five officers could not immediately be reached comment.
“The family is very pleased [with the indictment]” Page told CNN. “They’ve been waiting patiently for justice. We know this is long process, but this is a good start.”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation conducted the probe into Rodriguez’s death, according to the DA office’s press release.