Five Georgia police officers have been indicted on murder charges in the asphyxiation death of a 24-year-old naked music festival attendee who was forcefully held down and stunned more than a dozen times.
A grand jury on Friday charged each of the officers with one count of malice murder, two counts of felony murder and one count of aggravated assault in the Sept. 20, 2019, death of Fernando Rodriguez, who died after officers handcuffed him and held him down for nearly 10 minutes.
The officers also were charged with one count of violation of oath of office, for “stretching Rodriguez out on the ground in a prone position while he was handcuffed and shackled, holding him down and applying pressure to his body,” the Henry County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Rodriguez was walking naked in the middle of a road after attending the Imagine Concert Music Festival at the Atlanta Motor Speedway when police forced him to the ground and placed him in restraints.
The Brentano String Quartet had finished their performance when a special guest dropped in backstage: the...
