COBB COUNTY – Anthony Henderson, City of Covington councilmember, faces a criminal damage to property charge in the second degree following an incident in April at The Battery in Cobb County.

Henderson, 26, allegedly damaged an entry gate at The Battery’s green parking deck on April 22, according to an incident report by the Cobb County Police Department. 

A LAZ Parking assistant manager said a white Camaro drove up to the entry gate arm. A man got out of the car and pulled the arm gate up. The Camaro then proceeded to park in the deck. The same man subsequently went up to two cars and spoke with both drivers, who then entered the deck and parked next to the Camaro, the report states.

An officer working at The Battery arrived on scene and ran the Camaro’s tag. Henderson’s name came back as the vehicle’s registered owner. He met with the officer at the green deck and explained that he saw other people holding the gate arm up and letting cars enter. According to the report, Henderson said he did it “because he saw others doing it.”

The assistant manager, however, said no one preceded Henderson when entering the gate. The LAZ employee told Henderson they would not press charges if Henderson paid the $750 cost to repair the gate arm. The incident was recorded on a camera at the entry gate. 

Henderson said he would not repair the gate because other people were doing the same thing. The officer observed that the gate arm was “stuck in the up position and it was bent.”

Though he was not arrested at the scene, Henderson was informed that a warrant would be taken for his arrest and the officer advised him to turn himself in at a later time. 

Henderson was booked on April 26 and was released on a $1,000 bond. Second degree criminal damage is a felony, punishable by a one to five year prison sentence.