Body cam footage shows YSL defendant’s removal from courtroom

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Newly obtained body cam footage shows the dramatic incident that caused a Fulton County courtroom to be evacuated earlier this week during the massive Young Thug/YSL RICO trial.

On Wednesday, one of the defendants in the trial, Rodalius Ryan, aka Lil’ Rod, was removed from the courtroom on, according to the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, suspicion of marijuana. Ryan, according to the department, “did not want to be searched, per safety protocols.”

The body cam footage came from one of the Fulton County deputies involved in Ryan’s removal from the courtroom and subsequent search.

The video begins with deputies escorting Ryan out of the courtroom into a side room. One deputy then tells Ryan he detects a strong odor of marijuana, and tells Ryan he is going to be strip searched. Ryan told the deputies he didn’t have any marijuana on him, and removes his shirt, pants, shoes and socks.

“We don’t want to put you in handcuffs if we don’t have to,” a deputy explains to Ryan, who resisted removing his underwear. That’s when deputies forcibly handcuffed him, and Ryan began screaming repeatedly, “I ain’ did nothin’ wrong, bruh!”

Ryan was eventually subdued, but at one point, he screamed deputies were breaking his arm. Deputies appeared to find two packets of an undetermined substance in his undergarments, once they had been removed.

“It was hidden really well,” one deputy said.

Suri Chadha Jimenez, who represents defendant Coradrius Dorsey, was present in the courtroom when the melee began.

“All of a sudden, a bunch of deputies got up, stood up, walked towards Mr. Ryan, and asked him to go to the back,” Chadha Jimenez said. “When Mr. Ryan was taken to the back, we could hear him screaming from the back. So, obviously, a lot of people were upset. A lot of people were concerned.”

Fulton County deputies ultimately evacuated the courtroom.

The incident is only the latest in a series of arrests, delays and drama surrounding the trial of Jeffery Williams - aka Young Thug - and 12 other defendants being charged under Georgia’s RICO law.

Read the RICO charges facing Young Thug

On Thursday morning, attorney Anastasios Manettas was arrested on charges of simple battery on law enforcement officers, possession (pills not in original container), obstruction and disruption of court proceedings. Manettas represents Miles Farley, who is one of several defendants in the trial.

Later Thursday morning, Judge Ural Glanville announced Farley’s trial has been severed from the overall YSL case. That means the number of YSL-related defendants in the case is now 13.

Jury selection in the trial has already lasted longer than any other in Georgia history and could become the state’s longest trial ever recorded.

A few weeks ago, a potential juror was jailed for filming court proceedings. Back in January, the mother of Deamonte Kendrick - aka Yak Gotti - was arrested and charged with criminal attempt to commit a misdemeanor and issued a $1,500 bond. Latasha Kendrick is accused of trying to pass tobacco products to her son.

Also in January, Kahlieff Adams, a rapper who is also on trial with Young Thug was charged with possession of a schedule 2 controlled substance; possession of less than an ounce of marijuana; possession of an alcoholic beverage by an inmate; and two counts of willful obstruction of law enforcement officers.

FULL COVERAGE: YOUNG THUG TRIAL

Williams is facing eight criminal counts under a federal law that was originally enacted to fight organized crime.

The federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law was passed and signed into law in 1970 by President Richard Nixon. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, it allows prosecutors to link apparently unrelated crimes with a common objective into a prosecutable pattern of racketeering.

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