Two police officers have been fired after brutally arresting students from Morehouse and Spelman College last night. On May 30, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced a 9:00 p.m. curfew. About 15 minutes after the curfew went into effect, the situation at the site of the protests deteriorated quickly.
Video of police arresting two college students was captured by CBS 46 as well as on body cameras worn by officers. During the arrest, the cops slashed the tires of the vehicle, busted the windows from the cars, and tasered the male and female before arresting the two. The video went viral and Bottoms took swift action by announcing the firing of two officers involved. We salute Mayor Bottoms and Police Chief Shields for setting an example that other departments should follow when officers misuse their authority. Without that type of leadership, there will never be trust between the police force and the community.
“There clearly was excessive use of force,” Bottoms said during a press conference on May 31. “We understand that our officers are working very long hours on during the enormous amount of stress. But we also understand that the use of excessive force is never acceptable. So the reason that we postponed the press conference earlier today was to give Chief Sheilds and I the opportunity to repeatedly review the body cam video. There were five officers involved in this incident so it took quite a while. Many of you all know in my former life, I’m still a lawyer, I still have my law license. And I was a judge, so I have to ask a lot of questions, and review the footage, again and again, and again. And we had extensive discussions, based on what we saw on that footage. After review of that footage [Chief] Shields and I have made the determination that two of the officers involved in an incident last night will be terminated immediately. Three officers are right now on desk duty pending the further determination of what, if any, appropriate disciplinary action should be taken against them.”
Click to see the video of the confrontation that caused the firings.
