Bodycam footage of a former Georgia judge being taken to the ground outside an Atlanta nightclub is circulating again on Facebook, nearly two years after the confrontation that put her in handcuffs.
Christina Peterson was Douglas County’s probate judge when an Atlanta police officer arrested her outside the Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge in Buckhead around 3:18 a.m. on June 20, 2024. Police accused Peterson of pushing the officer in the chest as he dealt with a separate dispute outside the club.
Peterson disputed that account from the beginning. Her attorney said she had stepped into the confrontation because another woman was being attacked, and that woman later publicly backed Peterson’s version of why she became involved.
The resurfaced footage captures an arrest that initially produced battery and obstruction charges. The ending was considerably different: prosecutors eventually dropped two of the charges, and a jury acquitted Peterson of the last one in February 2026.
Outside The Club
The Atlanta Police Department said the officer was working an approved extra-duty job at 3179 Peachtree Road NE when he heard a commotion and went to investigate.
Security workers were escorting another woman from the venue when Peterson approached. Police said Peterson began yelling at a security guard, and the officer pushed Peterson in the chest, and continued swiping his hands away while he tried to deal with the other woman.
Police said Peterson pushed him again before he took her into custody. Bodycam footage shows the encounter moving quickly from the sidewalk confrontation to Peterson being forced to the ground and handcuffed.
The department later released hours of bodycam and dash-camera footage from the incident.
Peterson’s side offered a different account of how she entered the confrontation. Alexandria Love, the woman Peterson said she was trying to help, told reporters afterward that Peterson intervened while a man was attacking her and was the only person who came to her aid.
Peterson was initially charged with simple battery against a police officer and obstruction.
Another Courtroom
Five days after the arrest, Peterson lost her judgeship, but not because of anything that happened outside Red Martini.
On June 25, 2024, the Georgia Supreme Court ordered her removed from the Douglas County probate bench following a separate judicial-misconduct case that had begun years before the nightclub encounter.
The criminal case from Buckhead kept moving.
In November 2025, a Fulton County judge approved prosecutors’ request to dismiss the felony obstruction charge and the misdemeanor battery charge, Atlanta News First reported. That left Peterson facing one misdemeanor count of willful obstruction.
The Other Case
By January 2026, Peterson had moved from defending herself against the arrest to suing over it.
A federal court docket shows Peterson filed a civil-rights lawsuit against the City of Atlanta and Officer Keith Wadsworth on Jan. 13.
Peterson alleged she had been subjected to excessive force during the arrest. Her complaint sought damages she believed would exceed $50 million for injuries that included physical harm, emotional distress, lost liberty, and damage to her reputation, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Her criminal case reached its own conclusion the following month.
On Feb. 19, after a two-day trial in Fulton County, a jury found Peterson not guilty of the remaining misdemeanor obstruction charge. Jurors deliberated for less than an hour before returning the verdict.
Olivia,
I found this article to be very informative and spot-on. You got it right on this story.
I am reminded of a quote attribute to Winston Churchill, when he said “a lie gets half way around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”
Well, this piece two years later shows that truth may be slow getting its pants on but it will emerge from some of the most unexpected places or person.
Your article is top notch journalism not slanted just standing on the facts! Much respect to you!