A Hall County sheriff’s deputy has been fired after being charged with battery and cruelty to children in connection with a reported domestic incident that occurred in the presence of young children. Martin Simmons is the latest in a string of Hall sheriff’s deputies fired, suspended, or resigning, most having been linked to misuse of License Plate Readers.
Simmons was arrested last week by Oakwood Police. The incident occurred at a residence on Harwood Road, according to the police report.
“…I received a Department of Family and Child Services report regarding a Domestic Violence outcry in reference to an incident that occurred on 09/09/2026,” the responding officer wrote in his report.
The juvenile children reportedly overheard a physical assault between the victim and the suspect while they were in a bedroom of their residence. Simmons could be heard hitting the victim “through the walls,” the report says.
This kind of thing had happened before, the officer wrote, based on what he was told.
Simmons was fired Wednesday after Oakwood Police notified his supervisors of his pending arrest, sheriff’s office spokeswoman B.J. Williams said Monday.
“Simmons was hired by HCSO as a jailer in July 2023,” she added. “He graduated from the police academy in September 2024 and transferred a month later to the agency’s Uniform Patrol Division. He was promoted to the rank of investigator earlier this month and was in training for that job when he was fired.”