Former Roswell Police Officer Daniel MacKenzie Pleaded Guilty After Punching And Tasing A Handcuffed Man.
Former Roswell Police Officer Daniel MacKenzie’s case is another ugly reminder of how quickly police power can turn into abuse when a person is already restrained, locked in the back of a patrol car, and completely under an officer’s control.
MacKenzie was accused of punching and tasing a handcuffed man during a 2018 arrest in Roswell, Georgia. According to Patch, citing Appen Media and WXIA-TV, the incident happened after MacKenzie reported that a man had been trying to open car doors in an apartment parking lot and ran when police arrived.
But the most disturbing part of the case was not simply the arrest. It was what reportedly happened after the man was already handcuffed and placed in the backseat of a patrol car.
WXIA-TV / 11Alive’s investigative team reported that body camera and patrol car recordings showed MacKenzie tasing and punching the handcuffed man in the backseat of the police vehicle. The station’s reporting also raised serious questions about how much of the incident was initially visible to the public, reporting that a fuller version of the police report detailed the force used against the handcuffed suspect.
In September 2021, 11Alive reported that a grand jury indicted MacKenzie on seven counts, including aggravated assault and making a false statement. The charges followed reporting by the station’s investigative unit, The Reveal, which had obtained and published information about the incident.
MacKenzie later pleaded guilty. According to Patch, he was taken into custody on February 28, 2022, and was sentenced to serve 12 months for battery and simple battery, followed by five years of probation for aggravated assault, making a false statement, and two counts of violation of oath by a public officer.
The case stands out because the man was not described as an active physical threat at the moment the most serious force was reportedly used. He was handcuffed. He was inside a police vehicle. He was in custody. That is exactly the point at which the public is supposed to be able to trust that officers will control the situation without turning punishment into street-level retaliation.
MacKenzie had already resigned from the Roswell Police Department before the criminal case reached its conclusion. But resignation after alleged misconduct should never be treated as accountability by itself. Real accountability only begins when the public learns what happened, prosecutors review the evidence, and officers face meaningful consequences for conduct that violates the law and the oath they swore to uphold.
This case also highlights the importance of body cameras, patrol car cameras, open records laws, and investigative journalism. Without video evidence and persistent reporting, incidents like this can be reduced to a few sanitized lines in a public report while the most important details remain buried.
For the public, the issue is simple: if an officer punches and tases a handcuffed person in the back of a patrol car, the department should not be trusted to quietly handle it internally. The public deserves the video, the full reports, the names, the charges, and the outcome.
Daniel MacKenzie’s case ended with a guilty plea, jail time, and probation. The bigger question is how many similar incidents never make it that far because the records stay hidden and the cameras never become public.
