The Sept. 10, 2009, police raid on the gay bar the Atlanta Eagle is making an impact across the country in San Francisco as the city’s Folsom Street Fair is paying tribute to the raid as well as a police raid on a Texas gay bar with its 2010 poster.
The fetish fair’s poster, set for Sept. 26, depicts a police lineup of colorful characters wearing a variety of bondage and leather gear.
Thursday’s LGBT forum with top Atlanta police officials ended with a testy exchange between Mayor Kasim Reed and the attorney representing the Atlanta Eagle. The gay bar filed a federal civil suit against the city and the Atlanta Police department over last year’s controversial raid.
The Atlanta Citizens Review Board will discuss the cases of Atlanta Eagle co-owner Robby Kelley and doorman Ernest Buehl at its July 8 meeting. The two men allege that the Atlanta Police Department, including members of the notorious Red Dog Unit, used abusive language toward them during the Sept. 10 raid on the gay bar.
The CRB took up its first of a total of 14 Atlanta Eagle complaints on June 10 when it upheld manager David Shepherd’s complaint that he was falsely arrested during the raid. The board also recommended Officer B.E. Bridges be issued a written reprimand to go into his personnel file and Officer John Brock be punished with a three-day suspension for their roles in Shepherd’s arrest. Atlanta Interim Police Chief George Turner has 30 days to respond to the CRB recommendations.
An Atlanta Police Department officer who was fired after a city investigation into the unconstitutional raid of the Midtown gay bar Atlanta Eagle has said in court documents that officers were required to meet arrest quotas, according to a story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Cayenne Mayes, who was fired from the APD for lying during the investigation of the 2009 Eagle raid, was also part of another lawsuit filed by young men who said they were illegally strip searched by Mayes and other APD officers who were part of the now disbanded Red Dog Unit.
The Atlanta city council unanimously voted today to approve settling the third lawsuit stemming from the botched police raid on gay bar the Atlanta Eagle. The total of the settlement is $330,000.
Eagle attorney Dan Grossman told the GA Voice he was happy with the proposed settlement because his clients, whose constitutional rights were allegedly violated, "have now gotten justice."
As part of the settlement, Grossman also requested the Atlanta Police Department be mandated the police chief fire officers who destroy evidence in a civil case.