Crime & Safety

Update: Excessive Force By Police or Subduing a Suspect?

The Bartow County man and owner of an Emerson business stands accused of swindling people out of money and taking an officer's weapon.

Update

Last week's arrest of Michael West was his third in less than a year following at least 19 complaints he used Craigslist and his custom camper-top business on Highway 293 in Emerson to scam would-be customers out of money, The Daily Tribune News reports. He allegedly took down payments, but failed to deliver the products, and ran the business with a license, Emerson Police Chief Stan Bradley told the newspaper, adding West had outstanding warrants in other counties.

West was released from prison in 2004 after serving nearly two and a half years on a marijuana sales and distribution conviction in Douglas County, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.
See above his prison mug shot and a Google photo of the business taken in July 2013.

Original Post

The daughter of a Bartow County man and business owner who was arrested last week by Bartow-Cartersville Drug Task Force agents and U.S. Marshals says the officers used excessive force.

Angela West says she wants answers after surveillance video appears to show an officer stepping on her father's head after he was already on the ground, according to a WSB-TV report, above.

Michael Ray West, 50, of 686 Highway 293 in Emerson, was arrested Tuesday, Nov. 12, and charged with two counts of theft by conversion, obstructing an officer and taking an officer's weapon, according to the Bartow County jail intake report.

Emerson Police Department Chief Stan Bradley tells WSB-TV his department has received several complaints of West "bilking people out of money."

Which business he owns is unclear. Calls from Patch to Sheriff Clark Millsap, DTF commander Capt. Mark Mayton and Bradley have not yet been returned.

In his mug shot, West's head is bandaged and his left eye appears bruised and swollen.

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