AUGUSTA — A Richmond County sheriff’s deputy turned himself in Wednesday after a grand jury indicted him over a use-of-force incident from six months ago in downtown Augusta.
What happened: Around 2:40 a.m. on Jan. 11, 2026, Deputy Clarence Johnson V. was working a traffic stop at Broad Street and 4th Street when a man who had nothing to do with that stop approached him. The sheriff’s department described the man as “unruly.”
Johnson used force while taking the man into custody. A supervisor reviewed Johnson’s body camera footage afterward and sent the case to the Internal Affairs Division.
What the investigation found: Three days later, on Jan. 14, 2026, Internal Affairs ruled that Johnson had used unnecessary force. The department suspended him for 20 days without pay, put him on probation, pulled him off road patrol, and moved him to jail transportation.
The criminal case: The Richmond County District Attorney’s Office later asked the sheriff’s office for everything related to the January incident. Once Johnson learned criminal charges were being considered, he was placed on administrative leave. He was indicted and turned himself in today at the Charles B. Webster Detention Center in Augusta.
The charges: Johnson faces four felony charges from the January 11, 2026 incident:
- Violation of Oath by Public Officer
- Aggravated Assault
- Possession of a Firearm During Commission of a Felony
- Aggravated Battery
The path forward: Johnson’s case will now move through the criminal courts in Richmond County. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
At this point, the only difference between the guards and the inmates is who gets to clock out at the end of the day.
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B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
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- B.T. Clark
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