Two months have passed since Devon Anderson, 38, was killed by off-duty Atlanta police officer Melvin Potter, yet the victim’s family has had barely any communication from law enforcement authorities regarding the status of the investigation, according to his mother.
Potter, who is still employed by the Atlanta Police Department, has been relieved of duty while the investigation takes place. Anderson’s family has taken their questions to Atlanta City Council and the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, demanding to know why the officer hasn’t faced any charges related to Anderson’s death and why he was still on the police force considering he’d been convicted of a DUI two years prior.
“He shouldn’t be treated like he’s above the law because he’s a police officer,” said Valerie Lans-Anderson, Devon’s mother. “He murdered my son and there’s no accountability.”
According to the incident report, South Fulton police officers responded to reports of gunshots in the parking lot outside Harold’s Chicken and Ice Bar on Old National Highway just after 1 a.m. on August 5. Lans-Anderson said she was told by witnesses that her son was attempting to de-escalate an argument between Potter and another group of people when Potter shot him three times.
Potter was charged with willful obstruction of law enforcement officers for refusing a Breathalyzer after the shooting. The 30-year-old off-duty police officer was booked into Fulton County Jail and released on bond that same night. Officers who are relieved from duty — as Potter was immediately after the shooting — have to turn in their department-issued firearms, identification, and badges, although they continue to be paid.
Anderson’s family and community leaders assert that the delay in charging Potter with homicide represents a failure of accountability and transparency in the justice system.
“If my son had shot him, my son would have been arrested that same night without bond. Why is Melvin Potter any different?”
Valerie Lans-Anderson, mother of Devon Anderson
“Officers requested Mr. Potter to take a Breathalyzer test, which he declined — a right afforded to all citizens,” said Tori Cooper, spokesperson for the City of South Fulton Police Department, in a statement to Capital B Atlanta. “As a result, SFPD officers sought and received a signed warrant from a judge to obtain a blood sample.”
It wasn’t until Potter refused to allow officers to draw his blood for testing that he was arrested and charged with obstruction, Cooper added.
Lans-Anderson said she still questions why obstruction was the only charge on his arrest and whether his badge is serving as a shield. “If my son had shot him, my son would have been arrested that same night without bond. Why is Melvin Potter any different?”
Anderson’s family also wants to know why he was allowed to remain on the force two years after he was convicted of a DUI in Coweta County.
In June 2021, Potter was pulled over by Coweta County sheriffs for driving over 100 mph. According to body camera footage from the arresting deputy, Potter identified himself as an Atlanta police officer and told the deputy, “We’re on the same team.”
“I want to know why Coweta County did their job and APD has not,” Lans-Anderson asked Atlanta City Council’s Public Safety and Legal Administration Committee last month.
The Atlanta Police Department declined to comment on the Potter case, but told Capital B Atlanta that following his DUI in Coweta County, Potter was reprimanded and given a 21-day suspension without pay.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident as an officer-involved shooting. GBI said it will not comment on the investigation while it is ongoing.
Once the investigation is finished, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will decide whether to pursue criminal charges.
The DA’s office did not respond to Capital B Atlanta’s request for comment. Throughout her first term as DA, Willis has prosecuted two cases against APD officers and chosen not to prosecute another two.
During the 2020 primary, the Atlanta chapter of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers endorsed Willis over incumbent Paul Howard, who she defeated in a runoff election. Howard chose to bring charges against the officers involved in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks earlier that year; however, Willis chose to drop the charges once she took office.
The GBI, which handles all officer-involved shootings, has opened 10 investigations in Atlanta so far this year. Four involve Atlanta police officers, another four involve MARTA Police, and the final two involve Georgia State Patrol and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, respectively.
Two of the shootings were fatal, and nine of the 10 victims were Black men. A man who was shot to death by MARTA Police earlier this week has not been identified to the public yet.
City Council member Amir Farokhi asked the Atlanta Police Department to provide the committee with data on how many Atlanta police officers have been convicted of DUI and what personnel decisions the department made in each case over the past decade in its next quarterly report.
