Citizen Review Board Finds Police Misconduct During Eagle Raid

By Jim Burress

Atlanta, GA – In coming to the conclusion that at least some Atlanta Police Officers used abusive, homophobic language, members of the volunteer citizen panel went against the recommendations of their paid staff. Atlanta Citizen Review Board executive director Chris Beamud says because the complaints were not made against specific officers by name, her staff had no choice.

"In order to make recommendations of discipline, you have to be able to identify the person who committed the misconduct," Beamud said following Thursday night's meeting.

But bar patrons say they did ask APD officers their names that night, only to be told to "shut the 'f' up." That led board member Sharese Shields to question whether officers could simply choose not to identify themselves, and as a result get away with misconduct.

Joy Morrissey, who chairs the citizen panel, says the board ultimately felt the officers' conduct was abusive and should be treated as such, even if patrons couldn't indentify them by name.

"To have that type of behavior against patrons of a bar is ridiculous. It doesn't matter whether it's a straight bar or a gay bar," Morrissey said.

While sustaining allegations of misconduct, the panel deferred recommending sanctions pending a larger study into police actions during the September raid.

Eight employees of the Atlanta Eagle were arrested and charged with business code violations, although none were found guilty. A federal civil rights lawsuit is still pending. Recently, an APD official said an internal investigation has been completed into allegations of officer miscounduct; however, that report has not been made public.

APD spokesman Carlos Campos Thursday issued a statement about the CRB's investigation, saying the department could not comment directly on the allegations: "The case is in litigation. Also, it's important to allow the Citizen Review Board to do its job. As a result, the APD will respond to the allegations in the proper forum, at the proper time."

Jim Burress, WABE News.