Tennessee sheriff's deputy is FIRED after he was caught on camera choking an unresisting college student until he passed out

• Frank Phillips, 47, was found 'unsuitable for continued employment' by Knox County Sheriff J.J. Jones
  
• Deputies were called to a University of Tennessee student party that spilled out onto a residential street
• Students threw beer bottles at officers and several people were arrested
• A photographer on the scene took a series of photos of a deputy choking 21-year-old Jarod Dotson into unconsciousness
• The young man did not resist arrest, says the photographer, but police disagree
  
• He was complying with officers when the officer began to choke him
• Two other officers were behind Dotson, handcuffing him

By ALEX GREIG and HELEN POW

PUBLISHED: 18:00 GMT, 27 April 2014 | UPDATED: 08:26 GMT, 28 April 2014

A sheriff's deputy in Knox County, Tennessee has been fired after he was caught on camera allegedly choking a university student Saturday night.

Frank Phillips, 47, was been found 'unsuitable for continued employment,' according to a termination notice posted Sunday night on the Knox County Sheriff's Office's website.

'In my 34 years of law enforcement experience, excessive force has never been tolerated. After an investigation by the Office of Professional Standards, I believe excessive force was used in this incident,' Sheriff Jimmy 'J.J.' Jones said.

'Therefore, Officer Phillips' employment with the Knox County Sheriff's Office is terminated immediately.'

Jones added that the investigation will now be turned over to the Knox County Attorney General's Office to determine any further action.

John Messner, a freelance photographer in Knoxville, captured Phillips with both hands around the neck of University of Tennessee student Jarod Dotson in Fort Sanders after a party. The 21-year-old can be seen falling to his knees after the man's grip apparently renders him unconscious.

Phillips has been with the Sheriff's Office since 1992. Dotson, of Powell, is an architecture major at the college.

Authorities say Dotson was publicly intoxicated and drinking from a cup 'that had an odor of an alcoholic beverage' at 23rd Street and Laurel Avenue, when he was arrested.

He was charged with public intoxication and resisting arrest. He was released Sunday morning on a $500 bond, the sheriff's office said.

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