Former Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis suing Bibb County Sheriff for 2019 incident at Creekside Apartments

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — Former Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis is suing Sheriff David Davis in reference to an incident that took place in 2019 in which Deputies detained Ellis for an event at Creekside Apartments that had started because of an overfilled garbage dumpster at the apartments.

According to court documents filed in July of 2021, Ellis had gone to Creekside Apartments to attempt to bring attention to an issue that a friend of his had brought up concerning trash pick up at the apartments, namely an overfilled dumpster that residents in a 2019 report to 41NBC said caused “rats, rodents, and an awful smell”. Ellis called a press conference to show the public the overfilling trash on the property , to which 41NBC came to the property to report on the issue. The press conference was to be held in front of the garbage dumpster, in the public right of way, though internal reports say that Ellis knocked on doors of residents to see if anyone would like to speak on camera concerning the garbage and if the city would come and pick it up.

Shortly after, an arriving deputy came and told Ellis that he was on private property, and that the apartment complex’s staff wanted him and the camera crew to leave the property. Court documents say that when law enforcement arrived, Ellis attempted to go into his friend’s residence. The deputy at the scene told Ellis that he couldn’t go into his friend’s home, and that he had to leave the property immediately. It was here that Ellis and the Deputy exchanged words in which Ellis said it was unreasonable that he wasn’t allowed to visit his friend’s home.

After the verbal altercation with the deputy, Ellis decided to leave– however, after getting into his car he realized he had left some signs in his car and had turned back to give his friend those signs. When Ellis returned to his car, he found that the Deputy had blocked his car and was placed in handcuffs and taken to the police station.

During this, Ellis complained to the Deputy that the cuffs were too tight, but they were never adjusted– which resulted in a lesion of the radial nerve that he got treatment for a month after the incident due to pain.

Ellis was never booked into custody, but was instead taken back to East Macon and fully released.

Ellis is now in the process of a lawsuit against Creekside Apartments, Tony Lundy, Bibb County, The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff David Davis, and more for counts of Unlawful seizure, False arrest, Excessive Force, False Imprisonment and Malicious Prosecution, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Negligent Hiring and Retention and Violation of the Open Records Act.

It says in the documents that Ellis’ career and political future has been placed in perilous condition because of this incident, and that it has caused him to suffer irreparable injury to his reputation and diminished prospects to hold elected office, in addition to his physical injuries.