An 8-week-old boy is back with his mother after Fulton County police say his father assaulted her at a county elections facility in Union City, then drove off with the infant and her cellphone before a police sergeant talked him into pulling over at a MARTA station. Richard Benton was taken into custody and now faces pending charges, according to Fulton County police.
The Fulton County Police Department received a call about a fight in progress at the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operation Center, located at 5600 Campbellton Fairburn Road, according to Atlanta News First. A county employee reported that the father of her infant son had assaulted her, police said. Benton then drove away with the 8-week-old and the woman's phone before officers arrived.
A Sergeant's Phone Call Ends the Search
What happened next kept the situation from turning into a prolonged manhunt. According to a Fulton County Police statement reported by Cody Alcorn, Sergeant Jonathan Lyons reached Benton by phone and persuaded him to pull over at the College Park MARTA station. Officers moved in there, recovered the baby unharmed, and took Benton into custody.
The station sits in Historic College Park, roughly 10 to 15 miles from the elections hub in Union City, a route that traces part of the south metro Atlanta highway and transit corridor, per Uber's local geographic data. Fulton County police officers reunited the boy with his mother following the recovery, the department said.
Why County Police Were Already on Site
The elections hub itself is no small operation. The 600,000-square-foot facility opened in August 2023 after consolidating seven former warehouse locations scattered across the county, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Beyond housing election administration and 261,000 square feet dedicated to voting staff and equipment, the building also provides office and evidence storage space for the Fulton County Police Department, Sheriff's Office, and Emergency Management, per Fulton County government's own account of the facility. That shared footprint helps explain why county officers were positioned to respond quickly when the fight call came in.
Fulton County Police responded to the incident at the elections center, even though the building sits within Union City limits. The elections hub has drawn scrutiny before: in January, FBI agents executed a search warrant there to seize roughly 700 boxes of 2020 election records, a high-profile episode that kept the Campbellton Fairburn Road site in the local news well before this domestic incident.
Charges and What Georgia Law Requires Next
Benton faces pending charges that have not yet been detailed by prosecutors. Because the charges have not been detailed, it is unclear how the alleged offenses would be classified or how bond would be handled.
Depending on what prosecutors ultimately file, the underlying assault allegation could lead to criminal charges. It remains unclear which specific charges prosecutors will pursue or when Benton will next appear in court. The health status of the mother following the reported assault has not been detailed.
