Police Brutality / Individual record
James Brazier
James Brazier, a Black husband and father of four, was beaten during his April 20, 1958 arrest in Dawson, Georgia, and died five days later from head injuries.
- Record ID
- PB-001
- Incident date
- April 20, 1958
- Date of death
- April 25, 1958
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Dawson, GA
- Category
- Police beating / death after arrest
What happened
Brazier had objected when officers arrested and struck his father. Officers Weyman Cherry and Randolph McDonald later arrested Brazier; Cherry admitted striking him with a blackjack and claimed self-defense. Brazier was jailed with visible head wounds; witnesses described his inability to walk or speak the following morning. Doctors discovered severe head trauma, and he died April 25. PBS's archival investigation documents his widow Hattie's efforts to obtain justice, including a wrongful-death lawsuit. The case exemplifies violence against Black residents in segregated Georgia.
Investigation & findings
A federal grand jury declined to indict the officers in 1958. The Justice Department reopened its review under the Emmett Till Act but closed the case in 2009 because the subjects had died.
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- Historical source-derived record, pre-2015
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Published historical compilation of Black people killed in police custody (1999–2014)SAGE journal / cited NAACP LDF memorial listing · 2016 · Secondary scholarly source
- James Brazier historical civil rights caseUS DOJ Civil Rights Division · 1958 · Federal case file