Robert Bryant

Crime scene photos of Deputy Justin Watson at Huntsville Hospital following arrest of Robert Bryant on Aug. 22, 2012. (Photo by Madison County Sheriff's Department)

One of the Madison County deputies named in the "revenge beatdown" of a Tennessee mechanic resigned this month.

Deputy Justin Watson turned in his badge on April 5, confirmed Chief Deputy Dave Jernigan.

"He didn't give a reason," said Jernigan. "He chose employment elsewhere."

Watson had been a deputy in Madison County for seven years. Last year he was one of eight deputies named in a lawsuit filed by Robert Bryant, a mechanic from Kelso, Tenn., who argued he was stalked, stopped and beaten by deputies in revenge for a bar fight with Watson.

Madison County last year paid Bryant $625,000 to settle the suit. The FBI opened an investigation of the deputies involved.

Watson was the only deputy disciplined within the department over the incident. He was suspended for two weeks without pay in January of 2014 after fellow officers determined he provided "deceitful" testimony during a preliminary hearing for Bryant.

Watson's attorney, J. Bentley Owens III, did not return a call for comment today.

The original police reports show that Watson stopped Bryant in August of 2012 for an improper lane change, and that Bryant lunged from his truck and attacked Watson. Another report says Bryant attacked Watson during a field sobriety test.

Bryant has argued that he was stopped, asked to get out of the car, sucker punched and beaten with a baton because he had gotten into a scuffle at a bar weeks earlier with Watson, who was off-duty at the time. Bryant has consistently argued that he was stopped by a different deputy, not by Watson, and then beaten by several deputies while handcuffed.

After the stop, Bryant was taken to the hospital and charged with assaulting Watson.

In December of 2012, Watson testified at a preliminary hearing that he did not know Bryant before the stop. Watson's supervisors began to investigate Watson's story after the hearing. They concluded Watson was not telling the truth on the stand, but senior officers quashed the investigation.

In September of 2013, Jason Klonowski, who had employed Bryant as a handyman, held a rally proclaiming Bryant's innocence and pledged to see Watson and other deputies imprisoned. Klonowski was found shot three times in the back of the head about a month after the rally. His murder remains unsolved. The state is in handling the murder investigation.

Robert Bryant at Huntsville Hospital following arrest on Aug. 22, 2012. (Madison County Sheriff's Department)

The Madison County district attorney's office dropped the assault charges against Bryant on Nov. 13, 2013, or 10 days after Bryant's advocate was found dead.

Soon after the murder, Sheriff Blake Dorning asked the state to help investigate his own men and then re-opened the investigation himself.

In January 2014, a review panel of fellow officers found Watson in 2012 had offered "deceitful" testimony against Bryant. Watson was suspended for two weeks without pay.

Bryant sued in March of 2014. The county settled for $625,000 in August last year, and the FBI announced a civil rights investigation. The federal investigation continues, and sources say Bryant is scheduled to meet with federal investigators again on Wednesday.

Bryant's criminal attorney, Jeremiah Hodges, did not return a call for this report. The FBI spokesman said the agency does not comment on ongoing investigations.

Chief Jernigan late Monday said the Sheriff's Department is waiting to see what happens next.

Jernigan said Watson was not pressured to resign by department officials. He said that, even if indicted, Watson could have remained on the force while suspended without pay, pending the outcome of any federal criminal case.

The other deputies named in the Bryant suit remain on the force.

Deputy Jake Church is also named in excessive force suit filed on behalf of a Hazel Green woman who said she was thrown to her back porch and arrested when she would not let her grown daughter in the house. Deputy Ryan Countess is named in a suit by an electrical engineer who says he was tased on his front porch when he would not let deputies search his home for underage drinking without a warrant.