Infamous (black) Georgia Judge Arrested in Nightclub Fight With Cop.
A controversial Georgia judge was arrested early Thursday morning after allegedly hitting a police officer on the head and refusing to identify herself outside a nightclub in Atlanta.
Police detained Douglas County Probate Judge Christina J. Peterson, a Democrat, at a club in Buckhead and charged her with felony obstruction of law enforcement officers by using threats or violence, as well as simple battery of a police officer.
It was not immediately clear what led to the arrest, but officials told local media that there had been an early morning incident at the Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge on Peachtree Road.
The Atlanta Police Department confirmed the arrest to Newsweek Thursday morning, but said it could not release further details.
Judge Peterson has something of a notorious reputation in Georgia. In April, she was found guilty of "systemic incompetence," with the Judicial Qualifications Commission voting unanimously that she be ousted from office, following 30 counts of misconduct.
The three-person panel had found she ignored courthouse rules, abused personnel and made inappropriate posts on social media.
At one point, Peterson jailed a woman who was trying to amend her marriage certificate to include the real name of her recently discovered father. The woman ended up serving two of the 20 days of her sentence before her husband was able to pay her fine.
"Such a hasty and shockingly disproportionate reaction is the hallmark of [Peterson's] intemperance," the panel wrote about the incident.
The judge also received complaints after allowing a wedding after hours without sheriff's office deputies present, and for pressing a panic button unnecessarily.
During the panel's hearings, Peterson complained that she had not received enough recognition since taking on her role in 2020.
"I'm the first African American female judge who was a Democrat," she testified. "I was never celebrated or congratulated."
The panel disagreed with those arguments, and recommended she be removed from office.
"(Judges) are expected to act in a manner that promotes the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary," the commission's report read. "Respondent has shown that she cannot — or will not — do so. And so she must go."
While the Douglas County panel made its recommendation for her removal, the Georgia Supreme Court is yet to decide her fate.
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