Ahmaud Arbery suspect had law enforcement certification suspended

In a scathing new report by The Washington Post, new details have emerged about the past employment history of Gregory McMichael, one of the suspects in the Ahmaud Arbery murder.

The newspaper obtained McMichael’s employment records which show that the former police detective had his law enforcement certification and power to arrest stripped from him in February 2019. The corrective action was taken after McMichael repeatedly failed to complete mandatory firearms and use-of-force courses. 

READ MORE: Note left at Ahmaud Arbery’s death site: ‘I should have stopped them’

According to the report, McMichael was stripped of his powers to arrest people on at least two occasions: once beginning in January 2006 — because of an undisclosed infraction the previous year — and again in February 2019, when the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (POST) issued a suspension order for “failure to maintain training for the year 2018.”

The report goes on to detail that McMichael failed to complete sufficient training hours in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2010. He offered various excuses including the ill health of his wife and himself. 

Just one year before the incident where he and his son, Travis McMichael pursued and killed Ahmaud Arbery, the elder McMichael was instructed not to “engage in any activity that would be construed as being law enforcement in nature,” in a memo obtained by The Post written by the Camden County District Attorney’s office which McMichael also signed. 

“To that end, Mr. McMichael will not carry a firearm or badge, nor will he operate any vehicle in the motor pool outfitted with lights, siren, or police radio equipment,” the memo stated.

READ MORE: Ahmaud Arbery’s mother calls for death penalty for men who shot her son

McMichael retired from the district attorney’s office four months later. 

Operating as a private citizen, Gregory McMichael and his son attempted to detain Arbery who was jogging in their Satilla Shores neighborhood. The duo shot and killed the man who attempted to evade them. 

They are charged with felony murder and aggravated assault in Arbery’s killing. Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery’s mother, has called for the death penalty in the case.