Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe — who first made headlines in 2020 when he shot and killed Rayshard Brooks — is now being charged with simple battery after a violent altercation with an employee at X Midtown club last month. In a 911 call released a few days after the incident in June, club employee […]
Criminal Justice
Posted inCriminal Justice
Atlanta Mass Shooting Highlights Need for More Violence Intervention Work
A mass shooting on Edgewood Avenue early Monday morning left Atlanta reeling and increased calls for more violence intervention work from grassroots organizations working in schools and neighborhoods across the city. At 1:27 a.m. Monday, Atlanta police received reports that multiple people were shot near the Edgewood at Hilliard streetcar station in Sweet Auburn, according […]
Posted inCourts, Policing, Public Safety
DA Doesn’t Appeal Judge’s Decision to Drop Charges Against Cop Who Killed Jimmy Atchison
An Atlanta father isn’t giving up after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis did not appeal a federal judge’s ruling to dismiss the charges against the police officer who killed his son. Jimmy Hill said he is disappointed, but not surprised by the decision. On Jan. 22, 2019, Hill’s 21-year-old son, Jimmy Atchison, was shot […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
APD Must Now Report All Deadly Force to Citizen Review Board
Last week, Atlanta officials celebrated an agreement between the police department and the Atlanta Citizen Review Board to increase civilian oversight over the agency. In a statement, Mayor Andre Dickens described the agreement as a step toward rebuilding trust between the government and the people it serves. Tiffany Roberts, co-founder of Building Locally to Organize […]
Posted inPublic Safety, Transportation
State Investigation Finds Missing Belts As A Cause Of Escalator Collapse After Beyoncé Concert
After an escalator malfunction left at least 24 people injured at a MARTA station following a Beyoncé concert earlier this month, a state investigation found that missing parts on the escalator and an overload of passengers were the likely causes of the accident. On July 15, as people were leaving Mercedes-Benz Stadium after Beyoncé’s final […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Incarceration, Mental Health
‘The System Is Failing My Son’: Mother of Bipolar Man Fears for Son’s Life Inside Fulton County Jail
Latreece Williams hasn’t had a good night’s sleep at her home in Perkerson Park in over a month. Not since her son Dewayne Lamar High Jr., who was diagnosed with epilepsy and bipolar schizoaffective disorder in 2011, has been locked up in Fulton County Jail. “I call watch command every day to ask for a […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Kappa Picnic Shooting: Funeral Plans Begin as Fraternity Fundraises for Daughter Left Behind
As Anthony Pearson’s Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity brothers begin to plan his funeral, another family is gathering today to lay his shooter to rest. The funeral service for Justin Minnitee, the 23-year-old man Atlanta police say shot and killed Pearson on June 28, is scheduled for today in Decatur. Minnitee died after fraternity members with […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, News, Policing
Calls for Mayor to Act After Witnesses Say Officer Who Shot Rayshard Brooks Punched Club Worker
Garrett Rolfe, the police officer who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks in 2020, was back in the news after a bar fight last Sunday. And the release of a 911 call is now shedding new light on the incident. Witnesses at X Midtown club described a chaotic scene to police where Rolfe reportedly punched one […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Gentrification, History
History Beneath Our Feet: Atlanta’s Gentrifying Neighborhoods Hold Haunting Stories of 24 Murdered Black Women
On a quiet stretch of White and Lawton streets, in southwest Atlanta, there’s no marker. No sign. Just a patch of sidewalk, cars passing, and weeds curling from a cracked curb that offers no clues to its past. But in the summer of 1911, this is where Lizzie Watts was found — her throat slashed, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Kappa Alpha Psi Picnic Turns Tragic as Masked Gunman Opens Fire in Atlanta
Fraternity members and HBCU alum are mourning the loss of Anthony Pearson after his fatal shooting on Sunday. And now they want to help a young girl who lost her father. A day of fellowship and brotherhood turned into tragedy when a masked man opened fire at a Kappa Alpha Psi picnic over the weekend, […]