Restrained inmate held in chokehold still 'under investigation' months after reported

I-Team: Records show deputies connected to choking case still working

It's been four months since a Cobb County sheriff's deputy was seen on camera putting a restrained inmate in a chokehold. The FOX 5 I-Team's Dana Fowle first broke this story, and she has been keeping tabs on how the use-of-force investigation is progressing.

COBB COUNTY, Ga. - It's been four months since a Cobb County Sheriff's Office deputy was shown on camera punching a restrained inmate in custody and then placing him in a chokehold for nearly a minute. 

The FOX 5 I-Team has asked regularly for the status of that internal investigation but has consistently heard that it's still pending. 

Timesheets show Deputy Shawn Titre was put on 12 days of paid administrative leave two days after the video was captured. Those same records obtained by our team reveal he is back on the clock. 

The backstory:

The I-Team obtained video from a fisheye camera in a Marietta hospital. It shows a handcuffed and shackled man in Cobb County custody. It was 27-year-old William Carducci. He was taken there by sheriff's deputies from the jail for a minor infection. After Carducci stood up from a hospital bed and walked over to a group of deputies and security officers, he was quickly surrounded. This was Carducci's attorney when we first showed him the tape.

"He didn't appear to be aggressive to me in any way," Scott Anderson told the I-Team back in March. 

The video has no sound, and we can't see what, if anything, might have provoked the deputies, but the hospital video reveals the restrained inmate gets punched six times by a single deputy. Shortly after, he's held in a chokehold maneuver for nearly a minute. 

The move is considered "use of force" and is designed to subdue someone by either reducing or cutting off the oxygen supply. The sheriff's office's own handbook reads that it is only supposed to be used if there is fear of imminent danger of death or serious injury.

Timeline:

• Feb. 3: Inmate William Carducci was taken to a hospital for medical treatment and was subsequently punched and held down with a chokehold.
• Feb. 4: An internal incident report was filed the next day. The Cobb County Sheriff's Office began an "investigation on a use of force incident" involving the two deputies in the room with the inmate: Deputies Shawn Titre and Donald Farr. Titre is listed as a suspect. Farr's name is listed as a witness. 
• Feb. 5: Titre was placed on administrative leave with pay during a use-of-force investigation. 

What's next:

But here we are, four months later, and where is this case headed? Each time we ask, we're told it's still an active internal investigation.

Here's what we do know. Timesheets show both deputies are still working. Farr has no disciplinary actions against him going back to January 2024. But Titre's records requested by the I-Team look different.

Titre has two disciplinary events in that same timeframe. One involves an unrelated event where he was suspended "8 hours without pay" on March 19th for "missing a security round."

The only other event on his record is the investigation into "use of force." While that happened, he was on paid leave for 12 working days. But timesheets show he's back at work with no other disciplinary actions reported. 

William Carducci's attorney told the Cobb County District Attorney's Office they plan to sue for $3.5 million.