Thomas Ziel

Name of Accused:
Ziel, Thomas John

Date of Arrest:
09/15/2024


Charges For Arrest:
SIMPLE BATTERY AGAINST LEO/LE DOG/CO – M
WILLFUL OBSTRUCTION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS – M
Public Drunkenness – M
DISORDERLY CONDUCT – M
Officer’s Narrative:
[Please note: The following is a direct transcription from the official initial incident report. The Georgia Gazette does not fix any spelling or grammatical errors that may exist. Any changes or redactions made by our staff are placed inside brackets. Some errors may exist. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The topics discussed may be sensitive to some readers. Discretion is advised.]
On September 15th, 2024
, at approximately 2040, while on uniformed patrol in unincorporated Chatham County, I (CPL J. Robertson 645) was dispatched to 119 A Charlotte Rd (Papa’s BBQ & Seafood) for a report of a w/m subject walking in the roadway and talking to himself at the bus stop. Dispatch advised that the subject head butted the complainants vehicle while he was getting ready to exit onto Highway 80 from the parking lot.
One of the two complainant’s that called 911 was Mr. [VICTIM ], who I ed by phone prior to arriving on scene. Mr. [VICTIM ] explained that while his vehicle was briefly stopped before exiting onto Highway 80, a w/m subject wearing a black shirt and blue shorts was observed walking in the roadway and aggressively approaching his vehicle. Mr. [VICTIM ] advised that when the subject got to his vehicle, he aggressively head butted his vehicle and began screaming and cussing at him not making any sense. Mr. [VICTIM ] advised that the subject didn’t threaten him but kept rambling on about him hurting his mother. Mr. [VICTIM ] advised that he immediately drove off and called 911. Let it be noted that approximately 15 minutes prior I responded to a call at 4700 E US Highway 80 (Chevron Gas Station) in reference to a disorderly male matching the same description. I was unable to locate the subject at that location.
Mr. [VICTIM ] explained that there was no damage to his vehicle and that he didn’t want to press charges. He explained that he just wanted us to check on the subject so that he didn’t hurt himself or anyone else. While en route to the call, APO Thorne got on the radio and requested that I step it up, as the subject was intoxicated and getting aggressive. I activated my body worn camera and responded to the scene with my emergency equipment activated. As I pulled into the parking lot I deactivated my emergency equipment and quickly pulled up in front of Papa’s BBQ & Seafood where I observed APO Thorne speaking with a male subject matching the call description.
While pulling up on scene, I observed the male subject, later identified as Mr. Thomas Ziel (offender/arrested) screaming and yelling at APO Thorne, getting close in APO Thorne’s proximity and taking a fighting stance. Mr. Ziel was observed taking a fighting stance, bending his knees, pulling his shorts up and balling his fists as he approached APO Thorne aggressively, not following his orders. While exiting my marked patrol unit (23-8193) I observed Mr. Ziel continuing to approach APO Thorne aggressively and not following his orders. I then observed Mr. Ziel aggressively take both of his hands and push APO Thorne in his chest, pushing him back a couple of feet while continuing to proceed toward him.
After observing this, I drew my department issued taser from its holster and activated it, painting both dots onto Mr. Ziel’s person in a manner that I could deploy it, splitting his belt line with both dots in a manner that would strike a meaty portion of his body where there was a larger muscular group. I deployed my department issued taser at this time to stop Mr. Ziel’s assaultive behavior towards APO Thorne, striking Mr. Zeal in a his chest with one probe and in his left lower abdomen region with the second probe. The taser deployment was successful, as it incapacitated Mr. Ziel to the point of him falling to the ground.
Once Mr. Ziel fell to the ground, APO Thorne approached and handcuffed Mr. Ziel while I was giving him verbal commands to put his hands behind his back and not move. At one point it appeared as if Mr. Ziel was going to attempt to get up, so I advised him that if he didn’t follow my directives I would deploy my taser again. Mr. Ziel complied and rolled onto his stomach so that APO Thorne could successfully place him in handcuffs. My taser was deployed for a total of a one five second cycle.
Mr. Ziel was then sat up onto his butt where he continued to scream and shout at officers aggressively. Eastside supervisor was notified and responded to the scene where he removed the probes from Mr. Zeal’s body with a probe removal tool. The probes were then placed into a plastic baggie to be logged into evidence at a later time. Chatham EMS who was notified, arrived on scene a few minutes later where they did a physical assessment on Mr. Zeal before leaving the scene. I then ed Mr. Zeal’s person before placing him into the rear of my patrol car (seat belt applied). I also ed Mr. Zeals bookbag before placing into my vehicle to be logged into safekeeping.
When APO Thorne and I made with Mr. Zeal we observed a half empty pint of Royale Club whiskey sitting next to where Mr. Zeal was originally sitting. I detected a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from Mr. Zeal’s person and observed his speech to be slightly slurred and his eyes appeared bloodshot. APO Thorne observed Mr. Zeal actively drinking from the bottle of whiskey prior to my arrival. Mr. Zeal admitted to be an alcoholic and relapsing tonight. He explained that he was kicked out of his residence due to his drinking habits and that he was a mean drunk.
Mr. Zeal was then transported to Memorial Hospital to receive medical clearance before being transported to CCDC. While in the hospital, Mr. Zeal started getting disorderly, screaming and cussing while making fun of a disabled patient who was actively getting upset from Mr. Zeal’s actions. Mr. Zeal then proceeded to scream and yell making racial slurs to anyone in the hospital that was African American. When I had Mr. Zeal stand up, he got aggressive, getting close to my face and making aggressive and disorderly comments to me, explaining to me that I should get my gun and shoot his brains out while not listening when I told him he needed to walk with me to the patrol car. With the assistance of a security officer at Memorial, I was able to get Mr. Zeal into the rear of my patrol car while he was pulling away from me the entire time. I couldn’t apply his seatbelt due to his aggressive nature at the time. Mr. Zeal then proceeded to beat his head against the window before being transported to CCDC.
While in CCDC Mr. Zeal threatened me by advising that he was going to punch me in the mouth while being disorderly to the jail staff. Mr. Ziel was cleared by the jail nurse and I deactivated my body worn camera. Mr. Zeal was charged with the following offenses:
Simple Battery Against a LEO (16-5-23)
Willful Obstruction of Law Enforcement Officers (16-10-24)
Public Drunkenness (16-11-41)
Disorderly Conduct (16-11-39)
Mr. Zeal advised that he wanted all of his personal property to remain in his bookbag, so I transported his bookbag with all of his personal property inside of it to the Annex where I logged it into safekeeping. The deployed taser cartridge probes were logged into evidence as well.
Use of force protocol followed and Blue Team completed.
[End of Narrative]