Editor’s Note: According to a statement from the Dunwoody Police Department, “Mr. Diamonte has no pending criminal case with the City of Dunwoody. All charges related to his arrest have been dropped.” – Updated Jan. 30, 2026.
The Dunwoody Police Department has disciplined Patrol Officer Edward Estes for violating its code of conduct when he arrested a man in late March.
In a May 6 interview, the man, identified as Robert Diamonte of Chicago, IL, said he has retained legal representation and will be filing a civil suit charging the department with wrongful arrest, among other allegations.
According to an April 19 employee performance notice obtained by Rough Draft, “due to the severity of the incident,” Estes was given a one-day shift suspension. The notice also made a “recommendation” that the officer take several classes offered by the Georgia Public Safety Training Center: a 24-hour Criminal Procedure class, a two-hour Independent Learning Class on Ethics and Professionalism, and to retake the Response to First Amendment Audits two-hour Independent Learning Class.
The notice saidthat after reviewing the incident and looking at body camera footage, Estes failed to meet the threshold for a charge of disorderly conduct.
During public comment at the April 8 Dunwoody City Council meeting, the man recounted his version of the encounter, which occurred on March 23 outside the Barnes & Noble Bookstore near Perimeter Mall.
“I was talking to someone in Phoenix, Arizona, about trying to collect a debt from a former friend who had betrayed my trust,” Diamonte, who was in Atlanta for an extended business trip, said. “That was nobody’s concern but my own, but the Dunwoody Police made it their concern.”
He told the council that three officers approached him – Estes, Brandon Everett, and Prince Green – and asked him to identify “who I was talking on the phone with and what I was talking about.”
Diamonte said he refused to comply with the officers’ requests, but they continued to press the issue.
“I finally had had it, and I said, ‘it’s none of your f*cking business,'” he said.
Estes placed the man in handcuffs, led him to a police car, and told him, “”where you are going, if you talk like that, they’re going to show you what time it is.'”
He also claimed that Estes “threw” him in the back of the police vehicle and slammed the door on his feet. He said Estes’ actions caused him to fear for his safety.
After a supervisor, whom Diamonte identified as Sgt. Joshua Sanders, arrived on the scene, he came to the patrol car and asked him about the incident.
“I called Estes a motherf-er, and they may not have liked it, but that’s freedom of speech, and I have the right to express that,” he told the council.
According to jail records, Diamonte was booked into the jail on March 23 at 2:49 p.m. and charged with disorderly conduct. He was released on March 26 at 11:31 p.m. on his own recognizance.
I did four days and three nights [in the DeKalb County Jail] because I swore at police officers,” Diamonte told the council.
Nine days after the incident, Diamonte’s charge was dismissed.
According to an email sent to Diamonte by Dunwoody Municipal Court Clerk Norlundra Huntington on April 1, “the solicitor has elected to dismiss your citation without prejudice.”
Diamonte said that he felt compelled to speak at the April 8 council meeting because he wanted a resolution to the situation and “so that the officers would be held accountable for their actions.”
The performance report mirrored, for the most part, Diamonte’s recitation to the council, but added a few details that were not mentioned at the April 8 meeting.
Dunwoody officers were called to the scene in response to a 911 call reporting that a male was “yelling ‘Come find me!’ on his phone,” the report said.
Everett was the first to arrive on the scene and met with a male who matched the description provided by the 911 caller.
” Upon making verbal contact with the male later identified as Mr. Robert Diamonte, it was apparent that Mr. Diamonte did not wish to speak to the police,” the notice said. “Mr. Diamonte became a bit confrontational with Officer Everett, which was when Officer Greene and Officer Estes arrived on scene to assist.”
Upon questioning by Estes, Diamonte claimed that the officers “were harassing him and that they were being racist due to the officers being black and Mr. Diamonte being white.”
After Diamonte used the oath, the report said, Estes claimed that using profanity was grounds for a charge of disorderly conduct, which Diamonte refuted.
“Officer Estes proceeded to ask Mr. Diamonte for his driver’s license/ID, which was when Mr. Diamonte indicated that he did not have one,” the report said. “Officer Estes then advised Mr. Diamonte to place his hands behind his back and that he was under arrest for disorderly conduct.”
Diamonte told Rough Draft the experience left him physically and emotionally scarred, and that he has retained legal representation.
“At any time, this could have been avoided, if someone had just listened to me,” he said. “I blew up the entire city hall with phone calls and emails with very little response, and I felt like I had to force their hand.”
Diamonte, in his May 6 remarks, said he is not against the institution of law enforcement, but felt compelled to take a stand regarding his treatment by the Dunwoody Police.
“I support law and order. I support police. We can reward those individuals that are heroic in their actions and solve important cases along with wanting to holding poor behavior by law enforcement accountable,” he said. “It’s ok to want both. It doesn’t have to be a one or the other.”
