(APN) ATLANTA — The Atlanta City Council’s Public Safety/Legal Administration Committee (PS/LA) discussed and then voted unanimously to confirm the changes on an ordinance granting new powers to the Atlanta Citizens Review Board (A CRB) at its meeting on Tuesday, March 15, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. Supporting the measure were Councilmembers C.T. Martin (District 10), Ivory Lee Young Jr. […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — HB 941 would change Georgia’s grand jury process for police officers accused of causing death or bodily harm. The bill is sponsored by State Rep. Rich Golick (R-Smyrna) ; it has unanimously passed the House of Representatives and is now in the Senate Non-Civil Judiciary Committee. http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/158453.pdf It purports to fix Georgia’s Grand Jury […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — Reforming the Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB), which investigates civilian complaints against police, is finally up for discussion at Atlanta City Hall. Atlanta City Councilman Ivory Lee Young Jr. (District 3) introduced proposed reforms toward the end of the council meeting on February 15, 2015. Atlanta Progressive News reported that Samuel Lee Reid, director of […]
Read more
(APN) SMYRNA, Cobb County, Georgia — Smyrna City Council members fled their chamber when the family of Nick Thomas––an unarmed Black man killed by a Smyrna police officer––and at least one hundred supporters interrupted their meeting on Monday, February 15, 2016. Sgt. Kenneth Owens killed Thomas in March, 2015 while the young man was working at a Goodyear in […]
Read more
(APN) DECATUR — On Thursday, January 21, 2016, after eight hours of hearing evidence, a criminal grand jury indicted DeKalb County police officer Robert Olsen on six counts for the murder of Anthony Hill. The charges include two counts of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault, one count of making a false statement, and two counts of violation […]
Read more
(APN) DECATUR –– Demonstrators are braving below-freezing temperatures as they camp outside of the DeKalb County Courthouse in the lead-up to a grand jury hearing in the case of Anthony Hill. Hill, a 27-year-old Air Force veteran and musician, was suffering a mental breakdown when DeKalb Police Department (DPD) Officer Robert Olsen fatally shot him last March. http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2015/03/14/rally-hold-for-dekalb-police-killing-of-anthony-hill/ […]
Read more
(APN) JONESBORO, Georgia –– A Clayton County magistrate judge has granted bond to Latausha Nedd, the first victory in a case that raises serious concerns about free speech rights and the power of law enforcement and vigilantes to destabilize social movements by targeting activists. Atlanta Progressive News previously reported that Nedd, a Clayton County resident with a long track […]
Read more
(APN) DECATUR — Members of The Coalition of Justice and Police Accountability spoke for nearly thirty minutes about recent police shootings, and a desire for increased accountability, during the public comments section of the Tuesday, September 08, 2015 DeKalb County Board of Commissioners Meeting. “I feel the DeKalb County Commission is reinforcing this culture of impunity, there is an […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — A former Habersham County Deputy, Nikki Autry, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on four counts of criminal civil rights violations for providing false information to obtain a “no-knock” search warrant. The no knock warrant allowed a police raid on the Phonesavanh family’s home that resulted in their 18 month-old baby being critically injured […]
Read more
(APN) UNION CITY, Georgia — The case involving the 2011 shooting death of unarmed nineteen year-old Ariston Waiters in Union City, Georgia, has been reopened by Fulton County District Attorney, Paul Howard. New evidence has been uncovered; and witnesses who were not interviewed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) or the Grand Jury are now speaking out, once […]
Read more
With additional reporting by Matthew Charles Cardinale (APN) ATLANTA — After six years and numerous motions of contempt against the City of Atlanta for not implementing court-ordered changes in training of Atlanta police officers, changes in Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and other changes to police culture, now serious sanctions have been imposed on the City of Atlanta. Today, […]
Read more
(APN) DECATUR — On Saturday, May 02, 2015, a symbolic funeral procession, for Black people killed by police, started in Atlanta’s West End neighborhood, wound through downtown Atlanta, and ended nine miles later at Oakhurst Baptist Church in Decatur. The procession was led by one hundred bicycle riders, a black hearse with a Rest in Power banner on the […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — On Tuesday, April 14, 2015, many Atlantans participated in a national day of resistance to police killings. In Atlanta, the day started with a die-in at Georgia State University. Then the activists marched to the Municipal Court of Atlanta, carrying a real casket and a Stolen Lives banner that documents victims murdered by police. There, […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — An estimated one thousand people gathered outside of Smyrna City Hall on Tuesday, March 31, 2015, to hold a vigil for Nicholas Thomas, the latest Metro Atlanta victim of police homicide. On March 24, 2015, Mr. Thomas, age 24, was working at a Goodyear Tire Shop near Cumberland Mall, when Smyrna police arrived to serve him […]
Read more
This article is the first in a two-part series. Atlanta Progressive News traveled to San Antonio, Texas, in order to learn about the social services model they employ in dealing with mentally ill citizens. (APN) SAN ANTONIO, Texas — When San Antonio, Texas, police officer Ernie Stevens heard about the police shooting of Anthony Hill in DeKalb County, Georgia, […]
Read more