A former probate judge in Douglas County, Georgia, removed from office by the state's top court due to a "pattern of misconduct […] proved by clear and convincing evidence," has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit seeking $50 million against the City of Atlanta and the police officer who arrested her outside a Buckhead nightclub in 2024.
Christina J. Peterson, 40, filed the lawsuit pro se — on her own behalf, as her own attorney — last week in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, claiming that Atlanta police officer Kenneth Wadsworth falsely arrested and imprisoned her, used excessive force by "violently slamm[ing]" her "head-first to the ground" in the wee hours of the morning in June 2024, and initiated a "malicious prosecution" based on a felony obstruction charge that has since been dropped, though a misdemeanor obstruction case remains.
Based on the foregoing, Peterson's lawsuit claims, Wadsworth cannot hide behind qualified immunity to beat the complaint.
Peterson, a licensed attorney in good standing without a history of discipline in that capacity, according to Georgia State Bar records, has long alleged that charges against her in connection with the Red Martini nightclub incident were trumped up.
Now she says that "felony charges terminated in [her] favor" are "indicative of innocence" and support her claims that she was "subjected to a significant deprivation of liberty[.]"
"It was clearly established that an officer violates the...
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