Two of the six Atlanta Police officers who were fired for brutalizing and tasing two Black college students are now suing Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Police Chief Erika Shields.
According to CBS 46, two of the ex-cops, Ivory Streeter and Mark Gardner, also want to be reinstated on the police force as part of the grievance.
As most of the country witnessed, a half-dozen officers were terminated after they were captured on camera slashing the tires of a college student’s car near the site of protests in downtown Atlanta on May 30. The officers also busted out the windows of the car, snatched the two students out with considerable force, threw them on the ground and tased them both.
The students were allegedly driving downtown after the citywide 9 p.m. curfew instituted by Bottoms due to the widespread destruction and fires the previous day.
The owner of the car, Spelman College student Taniyah Pilgrim, 20, said a stun gun was used on her and had her wrists pinned together with zip ties. Despite that, she was never charged with a crime.
Morehouse College student Messiah Young, 22, fared even worse. He suffered a fractured arm and was arrested, but he later had his charge dropped by Bottoms.
Both students told rolling out during a live interview that it was the worst experience of their young lives and they felt they were going to die that night.
The entire episode was filmed by a bystander’s cellphone and quickly uploaded to social media. An irate Bottoms ordered the police chief to terminate the officers the next day.
In addition to their termination, the Streeter and Gardner and the four other officers have been criminally charged by Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard.
The attorneys for Streeter and Gardner refute the mayor and district attorney’s claims of abuse of police power.
“Their use of force was proper and in compliance with the law, the policies of the Atlanta Police Department, prevailing standards of law enforcement, and the training provided to them through the City of Atlanta Police Department and the State of Georgia,” the lawsuit states, according to CBS 46. “Petitioners have suffered irreparable injury to their personal and professional reputations as a result of their unlawful dismissal.”
Not only did the officers lose their jobs and pay, but they are also in danger of losing their state peace officer certifications.
