Martin Simmons

Introduction

Martin Simmons is a former Hall County, Georgia sheriff’s deputy who was fired on October 14, 2026 after an Oakwood Police Department investigation led to his arrest on family violence charges, including battery and third-degree cruelty to children under Georgia’s Family Violence Act . The case centers on an incident report alleging that Simmons physically assaulted a 4-year-old child in a Flowery Branch home in September, leaving a visible handprint on the child’s face . The sheriff’s office terminated him before the warrants were even served, after investigators notified his supervisors that an arrest was pending .

Background Information

Simmons joined the Hall County Sheriff’s Office as a jailer in July 2023, graduated from the police academy in September 2024, and transferred to the agency’s Uniform Patrol Division the following month . Earlier in October 2026, he was promoted to investigator and was in training for that new position when he was dismissed . The Hall County Sheriff’s Office asked the Oakwood Police Department to conduct the criminal investigation after receiving a complaint alleging potential criminal misconduct by Simmons, and ran a separate internal investigation of its own .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

According to the Oakwood police incident report, juvenile children overheard Simmons physically assaulting a 4-year-old victim in a bedroom of a Flowery Branch home at around 8 p.m. on September 9, 2026, and another adult in the home attempted to break up the altercation . Oakwood Lieutenant Stewart Webb said Simmons was in the juvenile victim’s bedroom trying to put him to bed when the incident occurred, and that the child was crying because he did not want to go to bed when the other occupants of the apartment overheard the slap . It is unclear why Simmons allegedly slapped the child .

Oakwood Police Chief Tim Hatch said the assault left a “significant mark” on the child’s face: a visible handprint on the left side of the face, accompanied by swelling and reddish abrasions, with purple bruising becoming apparent the following day . Webb led the criminal investigation and presented the findings to a Hall County judge, who issued arrest warrants for Simmons; Webb later served the warrants on Simmons at the Hall County Sheriff’s Office, and Simmons was taken to the Hall County Jail . The charges — battery under the Family Violence Act and third-degree cruelty to children under the Family Violence Act — are accusations, and Simmons is presumed innocent unless proven guilty .

Public Reaction and Consequences

The sheriff’s office fired Simmons on October 14, 2026, after Oakwood police investigators notified his supervisors of the pending arrest — a termination that came while he was still training for his recent promotion to investigator . The speed of the employment consequence, arriving before the public arrest cycle had even completed, reflected the agency’s exposure in a case where the accused was one of its own recently promoted investigators . AccessNorthGA’s coverage of the arrest and firing circulated across north Georgia the same week, drawing attention to the injuries described in the incident report .

Current Status

Simmons was fired from the Hall County Sheriff’s Office on October 14, 2026 and subsequently arrested on the family violence warrants, and he was booked into the Hall County Jail . The criminal charges of battery and third-degree cruelty to children under the Family Violence Act remain pending, and no trial date or disposition has been reported in the sources available for this page . He is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty, and the allegations against him are unproven .

Impact on Their Career/Life

Simmons’s law enforcement career in Hall County ended three years in: hired as a jailer in 2023, promoted to investigator in October 2026, and fired within days of that promotion once the criminal investigation surfaced . A family violence battery conviction coupled with a cruelty-to-children finding would permanently foreclose any return to Georgia policing, and the termination itself is already recorded regardless of the outcome . For the sheriff’s office, the case removed an investigator it had promoted only weeks earlier, after its own complaint process put the matter in outside police hands .

Sources

• AccessNorthGA, “Hall County deputy fired after arrest on Family Violence Charges” — source