text: Tweet with a location 
   
   You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| In this undated Gwinnett County Police Department photo, Sgt. Michael Bongiovanni poses for an official portrait. Gwinnett County police said in an emailed statement Thursday, April 13, 2017, that Bongiovanni... (Associated Press) 
   
   In this undated Gwinnett County Police Department photo, Sgt. Michael Bongiovanni poses for an official portrait. Gwinnett County police said in an emailed statement Thursday, April 13, 2017, that Bongiovanni was fired after a new video surfaced showing him hitting a man in the face. Earlier in the... (Associated Press) 
   
   ATLANTA (AP) — Two Georgia police officers were fired Thursday, a day after authorities say one punched a man who had his hands up and the other kicked the man in the head once he was handcuffed on the ground. 
   
   The Gwinnett County Police Department said Thursday afternoon that Master Police Officer Robert McDonald violated department policy and the law. Video showed McDonald assaulting the handcuffed man, identified as Demetrius Bryan Hollins, while assisting a supervisor who had called for backup during a traffic stop about 4 p.m. Wednesday, police said. 
   
   Several hours later, police said that supervisor, Sgt. Michael Bongiovanni, had also been fired after a second video surfaced of him punching Hollins in the face as Hollins put his hands in the air. 
   
   "We acknowledge that the actions of these two officers have implications that will be felt for some time," a police department statement says. "However, we also believe that our decisive action in terminating both officers speaks volumes about what is expected of each officer that wears a Gwinnett County Police badge." 
   
   The department also has opened criminal investigations into the behavior of the two officers. The results will be turned over to the county district attorney, who will decide whether to prosecute the two officers. 
   
   McDonald was hired by the department in August 2013 and graduated from the police academy in March 2014, while Bongiovanni was hired in September 1998 and graduated from the academy in February 1999. 
   
   No working number could be found for McDonald, and the voicemail at a number listed for Bongiovanni was full. It wasn't immediately clear whether either man had an attorney who could comment. 
   
   Bongiovanni pulled Hollins over in Lawrenceville, just outside Atlanta, police said. 
   
   Video filmed by a witness shows Bongiovanni punching Hollins as Hollins stands with his hands up after getting out of the car, police said. 
   
   The other video shows Bongiovanni appearing to yell at a handcuffed man who then lies face-down in a left-turn lane of the busy intersection. McDonald runs up and immediately appears to stomp on the man's head before both officers eventually pull him to his feet. 
   
   Hollins, 21, appears to have blood on his nose and lip in his booking photo. 
   
   The shift commander initiated an "immediate investigation" and placed McDonald on administrative leave after Hollins' arrest. 
   
   Hollins was driving a red Acura Integra with no license plate and a brake light that didn't work, and switched lanes three times without signaling, according to an incident report filed by Bongiovanni. 
   
   Hollins yelled and began to "act strange," and based on that and the officer's recollection of Hollins' behavior during a previous arrest in August, Bongiovanni called for backup, the report says. 
   
   Hollins yelled and refused to obey orders when Bongiovanni ordered him out of the car and resisted when Bongiovanni tried to arrest him, the report says. There is no mention of Bongiovanni hitting Hollins. 
   
   The report mentions McDonald arriving after Bongiovanni had used his stun gun on Hollins and gotten him handcuffed on the ground. It doesn't mention any contact between McDonald and Hollins. 
   
   The two officers are white and Hollins appears to be black, police Cpl. Michele Pihera said in an email. 
   
   Jail records show Hollins faces charges of driving with a suspended or revoked license, operating a vehicle with a suspended or revoked registration, failure to signal, having a brake light that's not in good repair, obstructing a law enforcement officer and having less than an ounce of marijuana. He was released on bond Thursday afternoon. 
   
   Police released McDonald's personnel file Thursday and said Bongiovanni's would be released Thursday. 
   
   McDonald was "an excellent example of a team player with a strong work ethic" who completed his work on time, was always willing to help others and was courteous and professional with the public, Bongiovanni wrote in annual evaluation last June. He gave McDonald a rating of "often exceeds expectations" in many categories and no rating lower than "generally meets expectations." 
   
   McDonald received a few commendations and recognitions, including sharing the officer of the month honor in November 2015. 
   
   He had filed three use-of-force reports explaining why he used his stun gun or physical force in the course of his duties. 
   
   He faced a disciplinary loss of his good driving record after he rear-ended another car in his patrol car in June 2015. But the officer who responded to the accident said in a letter to the department's safety review committee that it would have been very difficult for McDonald to avoid the wreck. ||||| Two police officers have been fired after video surfaced showing them punching and stomping a man during an arrest in Georgia. (Reuters) 
   
   Two Georgia police officers have been fired after videos surfaced on social media showing them punching and then kicking a man in the head, authorities said. 
   
   Gwinnett County police said late Thursday that Sgt. Michael Bongiovanni was fired after authorities discovered a video showing Bongiovanni punching the man in the face as the man stepped from a vehicle with his hands up. Earlier, authorities had fired Officer Robert McDonald, who was captured in a different video kicking the man in the head as he lay handcuffed on the ground. 
   
   “The revelations uncovered in this entire investigation are shocking,” police said in a statement after Bongiovanni’s termination. “ … We acknowledge that the actions of these two officers have implications that will be felt for some time. However, we also believe that our decisive action in terminating both officers speaks volumes about what is expected of each officer that wears a Gwinnett County Police badge.” 
   
   [Police shootings so far in 2017] 
   
   
   
   Former Gwinnett County police sergeant Michael Bongiovanni, left, and former police officer Robert McDonald. (Courtesy of Gwinnett County Police Department) 
   
   The incident, which quickly went viral on social media, occurred about 4 p.m. Wednesday. One video, which was shot from across the street, shows a man getting out of a vehicle with his hands raised before the arresting officer punches him in the face. 
   
   The other video, shot from a different angle, begins as that officer is struggling with the man as he gets out of the vehicle and raises his hands. Shortly after the man is subdued by the officer and handcuffed, a second officer arrives on the scene and kicks the man in the head. 
   
   A struggle ensues before the officers search the man’s pockets. Both officers are white; the man, who is black, was identified as 21-year-old Demetrius Bryan Hollins of Lawrenceville, Ga., according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 
   
   The nonprofit community group Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta condemned the officers Thursday evening in a Facebook post. 
   
   Gwinnett Police Kicks Handcuffed Black Man In The Face MAKE THIS VIRAL: We are DEMANDING that Gwinnett County Police Department immediately terminate this officer who viciously kicked a HANDCUFFED BLACK MAN lying on the ground in the middle of the street (off Sugarloaf Parkway) without cause and without merit. After brutally kicking him in the face, blood splattered everywhere. Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta is now hereby seeking to have criminal charges brought against this officer expeditiously. This is why we take to the streets and scream #BlackLivesMatter, it's because American police officers have ZERO regards for black lives, they beat us, shoot and kill us without a blink of an eye and the biggest problem is, it all goes UNCHALLENGED. We can almost betcha the Chief of Police will say, "I'm sorry but we can't speak on personnel matters or we are conducting a full investigation" and after the investigation they will say… "We have determined to INVESTIGATE OURSELVES and found no wrong doings"Posted By Sir Maejor, President of BLMGA #BlackLivesMatter #BlackLivesMatterATl #BlackLivesMatterGA #BlackLivesMatterAtlanta Posted by Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta on Wednesday, April 12, 2017 
   
   Hollins told NBC News that he was trying to get to the camera app on his own cellphone Wednesday to record the encounter. He said one officer started “shoving me in my car and telling me that I was never going to have a video, that I was never going to make the phone call to my mom. When I had my hands up, that’s when he punched me in the face.” 
   
   Hollins told the news station that when he was handcuffed and lying on the ground, “another cop came out of nowhere and stomped me in the face.” 
   
   He was charged with multiple traffic citations, obstruction of a police officer and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. 
   
   Demetrius Hollins. (Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office) 
   
   Hollins’s attorney, Justin Miller, told NBC News that had the moment not been captured on video, it may have been overlooked. 
   
   “The fact that these guys felt so brazen as to … assault him in public in broad daylight in front of hundreds of onlookers and hundreds of cars is indicative of what they think is okay,” Miller told the news station. Without the videos, he added, “they would have painted him as the bad guy, arrested him, brushed it under the rug and probably did it to them again the next time they saw him.” 
   
   Gwinnett County Police Chief Butch Ayers said at a news conference Thursday that McDonald, a three-year veteran on the force, was responding to assist Bongiovanni during a traffic stop when he “got tunnel vision.” 
   
   Police said Hollins was pulled over for having a broken taillight and then resisted Bongiovanni. But by the time McDonald arrived, Hollis was on the ground and no longer resisting, Ayers said, noting that no use of force was necessary. 
   
   “This incident — this type of force and this action — was uncalled for,” the police chief said Thursday. “It shouldn’t have happened. There is no excuse for it. We have taken appropriate and swift action to deal with this. This officer and his actions do not represent the men and women of this police department who put their lives on the line every single day to protect this county.” 
   
   The chief said that the officer apologized for his actions but that the footage still made him angry. “I was upset and it felt like I had been gut-punched,” Ayers said. 
   
   During an internal investigation, authorities discovered a second video Thursday, filmed by a witness and posted online, that was “contrary to what was reported by Michael Bongiovanni,” police said in the statement. That video showed Bongiovanni strike the man in the face before the other officer had arrived, police said. 
   
   Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta also referred to the second video on its Facebook page. 
   
   Gwinnett County Police Officer Punches Demetrius Hollins In Th… NEWLY RELEASED VIDEO: Here is a second released video of the arresting officer brutally punching Demetrius Hollins in the face. After reviewing the police report in it's entire we have reasons to believe the arresting officer lied throughout his entire police report.We are now hereby demanding that Gwinnett County Police Department terminate the arresting officer and will also seek criminal charges against both officer involved. Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta will follow this case throughout its duration for up to the minuet information please LIKE us on twitter @SirMaejor and @OfficialBLMATL #GwinnettPolice #GwinnettCounty #GwinnettPD #GwinnettCountyPolice #SirMaejor #BlackLivesMatter #BlackLivesMatterATL #BlackLivesMatterAtlanta #BlackLivesMatterGA Posted by Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta on Thursday, April 13, 2017 
   
   Bongiovanni was hired in 1998 and graduated from the police academy in 1999, according to the police department. 
   
   The police chief said during the news conference that a plan is in place to outfit uniformed officers with body cameras by the end of the year. 
   
   Asked what message the incident sends, Ayers told reporters: “We have standards, we have policies, and we’re going to hold ourselves to those standards and to those policies. And if you violate those, there will be a swift investigation. And if those complaints are found to be sustained, action will be taken.” 
   
   This story has been updated. 
   
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target: – Two videos circulating on social media showed a Georgia man being assaulted by two cops during a traffic stop this week, and now those cops have been fired, the AP reports. Robert McDonald was canned Thursday after the first video came to light involving motorist Demetrius Bryan Hollins, the Gwinnett County PD says. Michael Bongiovanni was let go later that day after a second video emerged, per the Washington Post. "The revelations uncovered in this entire investigation are shocking," read a Gwinnett PD statement tweeted Thursday night. Hollins, 21, had been pulled over in Lawrenceville around 4pm Wednesday by Bongiovanni, the police say, and as shown in a video that appeared on the Everything Georgia Twitter feed, Bongiovanni punched Hollins in the face after Hollins came out of the car with his hands up. The other video shows McDonald rushing over as Hollins was lying in the street and slamming his foot into Hollins' head. Hollins' lip and nose appeared to be bloodied in his booking photo. Bongiovanni's incident report said he had pulled Hollins over for a busted brake light and a lack of signaling while changing lanes. The officer said Hollins had started to "act strange," yell, and resist directions, and he remembered similarly disruptive behavior from a previous arrest. Hollins was released on bond Thursday after he was charged with the original citations, in addition to driving with a suspended or revoked license and registration and possessing less than an ounce of pot. (A California cop has been accused of pummeling a pedestrian—an incident that was also caught on video.)