A Polk County Sheriff’s Office jailer was booked into custody on Tuesday and was later released from both behind bars and his job following an off-duty incident where he was charged for battery.

Polk County Police took out charges against Joshua Michael Pollard, 22, of a Cedartown address, after an altercation with the victim where he is accused of striking them several times and causing injuries that required a trip to the hospital.

The PCPD investigated the incident after they received a call from the victim, who is also a jailer with the Sheriffs Office. The reported assault took place due to a relationship that Pollard had previously been in with a third Sheriff’s Office employee who the victim was reported to be involved in a relationship.

The victim told police that Pollard reached out to meet at the Sheriff’s Office gym on Monday night, February 5, in what the victim believed was to be a discussion about the relationship. Instead Pollard threatened the “beat up” the victim on PCSO property. The victim sought to leave, but then Pollard was alleged to have “ordered” the victim into the car, who did so to avoid an altercation following him home.

Pollard was then reported to have driven the victim to the dead end of Juliette Street in Cedartown, where a bystander heard Pollard threaten the victim and attempted to prevent a fight.

Instead, Pollard began to assault the victim who received “numerous kicks and punches during the attack.” The victim provided officers with photos of the injuries they sustained, and information was turned over to the Criminal Investigation Division.

Pollard was fired on Tuesday from his job as jailer, per a release from the Sheriff’s Office posted on social media this afternoon. He was released on a bond from custody.

The Polk County Sheriffs Office posted the following statement online about Pollard’s arrest:

It marks the third Jailer who has been arrested and fired within the six months following incidents in and outside of the Polk County Jail.

In September, a jailer was charged after being fired for inappropriate contact with female inmates, and a second in December was charged after a domestic abuse allegation was also terminated from service with the PCSO.