SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) – Authorities arrested a rural Georgia sheriff on felony charges after he grabbed a 75-year-old man by the throat outside the sheriff’s office, the lead investigator on the case said Thursday.
Bacon County Sheriff Mark Cothren was booked at his own jail Wednesday on charges of battery, elder abuse and violating his oath of office. Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Mark Pro said the charges stemmed from an incident May 22 when the sheriff approached John Daniel Melton as he was walking up to the sheriff’s office.
Pro said Melton was “engaged in conversation” with Cothren when “the sheriff put his hands on him.”
“He grabbed him around the throat area,” Pro said.
Pro declined to give more details about what preceded the sheriff grabbing Melton. He said Melton was not an inmate or in custody. He also said Melton did not strike the sheriff.