A former north Alabama sheriff’s deputy was indicted by a grand jury on assault charges after he allegedly used excessive force while detaining a suspect last year, according to court filings.

Eric Reece Puryear, 24, who was fired from the Colbert County Sheriff’s Office following the alleged Feb. 23, 2022 incident, was indicted by a Colbert County grand jury for allegedly assaulting Robert Dowdy Hand.

Colbert County Sheriff Eric Balentine told WHNT he learned of the incident and another alleged case of excessive force carried out by Puryear in December after he took office in January.

Balentine then launched an internal investigation, which led to Puryear’s firing a week later, the sheriff told the station.

“We viewed all the body cam footage. It was not favorable for this deputy. It was clear to us that he had violated 7 departmental policies and we had to take action as soon as possible,” Balentine said.

The sheriff said Puryear’s firing was “about being transparent and letting our citizens know that we don’t tolerate certain types of behavior, and this is one of those incidents and we dealt with it accordingly, in my opinion.”