Man choked, slammed by cop on video at NC Waffle House found guilty of resisting arrest

On Thursday, Anthony Wall, 22, of Fayetteville, was found guilty of resisting arrest by Judge Mario Perez, according to multiple reports.

An investigation into Officer Frank Moss found “no excessive force” was used against Wall and Moss was never charged, the State Bureau of Investigation told The News & Observer on Thursday.

A charge of disorderly conduct against Wall was dismissed Thursday.

Wall was sentenced to a 20-day suspended sentence, on supervised probation for 18 months and 40 hours of community service. Wall also will be required to attend an anger management assessment and is not permitted on Waffle House property during his probation, Duplin County court officials told the N&O on Thursday.

“On the witness stand, Officer Moss testified when he was unable to physically contain Wall, he placed his hand on Wall’s throat, pressing in with his thumb at a known weak spot,” WITN reported. “Moss said the tactic was part of his law enforcement training.”

But in May, Moss’ superior, Warsaw Police Chief Eric Southerland, told the N&O that Moss’ behavior in the video “is not how (his) officers are trained to behave.”

“It’s not what you’re trained to do in incidents like this but when you’re dealing with someone fighting and resisting against an officer, you try to use proper tactics and go for one move, but that might not work because that person is moving or the officer is moving,” Southerland told the N&O in May. “In real versus training situations, moves don’t always work out like you want them to.”

Moss said in court that his body camera was not activated the night he arrested Wall. He said the camera being off was not intentional, WITN reported.

Judge Mario Perez said the incident “could have been avoided if Wall had only calmed down,” according to WNCT.

On May 9, Wall told the N&O that he had taken his 16-year-old sister to prom the night of May 5 and that they headed to Waffle House after. He said he and his sister argued with Waffle House employees and the police were called.

The argument began when a Waffle House employee cursed at people in his group after they sat at a table that had not been cleaned yet, Wall told the N&O in May.

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