Detainees testify in rights abuse trial of Georgia sheriff

ATLANTA (AP) — Two former detainees at a Georgia jail say sheriff’s deputies kept them strapped into restraint chairs for hours without pause, causing them to urinate on themselves. Both men testified before a federal jury Tuesday in Atlanta during the trial of Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill. The sheriff is charged with violating jail detainees’ civil rights by using restraint chairs as a form of punishment. Walter Thomas testified he wet himself “three or four times” during more than four hours in restraints when he was jailed on drug charges. Joseph Harper said he relieved himself twice in the chair as straps bound him around the waist and his upper arms. The sheriff’s attorneys say the prosecution is politically motivated.