Seven Arrested Protesting DeKalb Killing of Anthony Hill
With additional reporting on the police reports by Matthew Charles Cardinale.
(APN) ATLANTA — On Saturday, March 14, 2015, friends of Anthony Hill from his apartment complex in unincorporated DeKalb County, and from the surrounding community, held a memorial service on the spot where he was killed by DeKalb County Police.
Hill was killed by DeKalb Police on March 09, 2015, as previously reported by Atlanta Progressive News.
http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2015/03/14/rally-hold-for-dekalb-police-killing-of-anthony-hill/
Barry Abramson, Nijae Smith, Brenda Hernandez, Nigil Jones, Justin Carter, a sixth adult, and one minor were among those arrested, according to police reports provided to APN by DeKalb County Police Department.
[One report appears to be missing from the package of email attachments provided to APN, as it is cross-referenced in another report but is not included in the package.]
Activists from the Stop Mass Incarceration Network; Revolution Club Atlanta; Black Lives Matter; and others, who heard about the action on social media, joined in the ceremony.
Activists draped a yellow caution tape to rope off the complex, as the gathering chanted, “Justice for Anthony Hill!” Tee Stern of Revolution Books recalled in an interview with APN.
After the memorial service, about two hundred people took to the streets for almost two hours, marching through a freeway underpass and on to Chamblee Tucker Road near I-285.
“During this protest, we blocked off traffic to keep the protesters safe from being struck by traffic as the protest veered off the sidewalks and onto the roadway,” one police report stated.
Police apparently got weary of following the protest around the area, and eventually ordered them to get out of Chamblee Tucker Road.
“While getting them back on the side walk [sic] a few protesters re-entered the roadway causing a disturbance, at which time they were taken into custody,” one report stated.
Police allege that Abramson encouraged protesters to return to the roadway and shouted, “F*ck the police, we don’t have to do what they say!” Police allege they grabbed Abramson and that he snatched his arm away, shouting, “Don’t fucking touch me!”
Abramson was arrested for disorderly conduct and obstructing law enforcement.
Smith and Hernandez were arrested for obstructing law enforcement, and for failure to obey authorized persons directing traffic. Police allege they refused to move from the street lane and resisted arrest.
Jones allegedly ran into the road towards an officer while the officer was arresting one of the protesters, shouting, “Let her go!” He was arrested for disorderly conduct and obstructing law enforcement.
Several protesters were calling the police “racist! murderer!” according to one report.
“We would not be here having this protest, if you did not kill somebody,” Stern shouted to the police, she recalled.
Carter allegedly ran at a police officer while he was making another arrest, allegedly shouting, “Fuck you! Fuck you! Take out your gun and kill me!”
Carter was arrested for obstruction and disorderly conduct.
A minor was also arrested for allegedly refusing to move out of the roadway.
She was a fourteen year-old girl who was best friends with Hill, according to Stern.
She was released to her father’s custody, according to Stern and a police report. However, her mother went to jail, according to Stern.
The arrested protesters spent the night in DeKalb County jail, and all bonded out by Sunday, March 15, 2015, according to Stern.
(END/2015)
The article on the demonstration against the police murder of Anthony Hill is outrageous. The article is based on the police reports that are riddled with lies. What happened to investigative reporting? No attempt to interview the arrestees you slander by quoting and legitimizing the police lies? There is no reporting on the speak out by the heartbroken community who lost a loved one, no reporting on the righteous anger people have toward the police who keep killing people over and over and over again with no punishment. Channel 2, 46, and 11 had more sympathetic and TRUTHFUL reporting. What happened to Atlanta “Progressive” News? To quote the protesters standing against police murder–“Which side are you on?”
Dear Tracy,
I appreciate your comments characterizing the police reports as “riddled with lies.” Are there any specific points that you wish to dispute? If you can enumerate those, I think that would be most helpful at this point.
Unfortunately, we were not notified in advance of the rally; otherwise, we would have made an effort to be there. We have given advocates’ side of the story in previous reporting, and we interviewed you for this story. We also have an upcoming feature that is connected with the Anthony Hill case that I believe you will find interesting.
We made efforts to find out more about this rally, but were not able to obtain even the names of the persons who were arrested, let alone talk with them. Unfortunately, we had to resort to police reports. Of course, more follow-up could have been done, but we also have to keep in mind timeliness and time-sensitivity in deciding whether to publish a story or hold it for further research.
We made it very clear, through the repeated use of the word “alleged,” that we do not assume police reports to be facts. I still remember, and still occasionally re-tell, the story you loved to recount about the 11Alive report on Kathryn Johnston and the Atlanta Police (“When Kathryn Johnston heard a knock at her door, she thought there criminals at her door. It turns out she was right!”)
We report on activism-related arrests as a matter of rote, and have tried to report comprehensively on most, if not all, activism-related arrests in Metro Atlanta over the last nearly ten years. Sometimes, we have to rely on contemporaneous records, such as police reports, to piece together what happened. We did that here, in addition to providing your comments.
I believe we made a good faith effort to provide additional first-hand accounts, but it was difficult in this instance. I’m glad Channel 2, 11, and 46 were there to provide contemporaneous footage; our coverage might have been different overall had we been able to provide an independent perspective on the events that transpired.
MCC
According to these protestors and their compadres at Ferguson and elsewhere, only black lives taken by white police matter. All other lives do not matter.
It is mind-boggling hypocrisy on their part.
Let me illustrate my point.
On March 8, 2015 a 94 years old white woman was murdered by robbers in her Meridian, Mississippi home. Three black men aged 18 years and one black youth aged 17 years have been arrested and charged with the crimes.
Not a peep did we hear in the national media. Not a peep did we hear in the local media, including this website. Not a peep did we hear from protestors in Ferguson, Atlanta, and elsewhere.
Had the woman been black and those charged with her murder white, the media coverage would have been intense and protestors would have left Ferguson and Atlanta en masse for Meridian.
QED