Report says officers did not follow procedures, poor planning to blame
The long-awaited city investigation into the Atlanta Police Department’s 2009 raid on the Atlanta Eagle, a gay bar, was to be completed today, June 27, as mandated by a federal judge. The judge also required the report be released to the public when finished.
However, as June 27 comes to a close — a deadline set after the judge gave the city a three-week extension to finish the investigation — still nothing has been released from the mayor’s office or the APD to the public.
Two reports — one from the mayor's office and one from the APD's Office of Professional Standards — were due today as part of the city’s settlement with plaintiffs who sued the city after the bar was raided Sept. 10, 2009. The judge ruled the raid unconstitutional and the city settled the federal civil lawsuit for $1.025 million in December.
A court-mandated investigation into the Atlanta Eagle raid was to be finished next week, but a federal judge agreed to a 21-day extension with the caveat that all materials in the investigation, including transcripts with police officers and bar patrons as well as information on officers' conduct, be made public.
According to court documents filed June 1, the investigation into the Eagle raid by the Atlanta Police Department and private law firm Greenberg Traurig have until June 27 to finish the investigation that has supposedly been ongoing since the days following the police raid of the gay leather bar on Sept. 10, 2009.
The city of Atlanta settled a federal lawsuit in December for $1.025 million. As part of the settlement, the city was ordered to conduct a thorough investigation into the raid within six months, with the original date for the completion of the investigation set for Monday, June 6. The city hired Greenberg Traurig to conduct the court-mandated investigation in March with former U.S. Attorney Joe Whitley heading it up.
The City of Atlanta is apparently rushing to finish an investigation that’s been open for two years into the police raid of the Atlanta Eagle that happened in September 2009.
Patrons and employees who were in the gay bar the night it was raided on Sept. 10, 2009, filed complaints in the days following the raid with the Atlanta Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards. That OPS investigation remains open.
When the city settled for more than $1 million in December with plaintiffs who sued because they said their constitutional rights were violated, part of the settlement agreement included a specific clause that the city had 180 days to complete an investigation into the raid.
The Atlanta Police Department sent in top brass to discuss the new APEX Unit that replaces the controversial Red Dog Unit as well as ways the department hopes to erase its bad reputation among gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents.
More than a dozen APD officers, including the LGBT liaisons and members of the new Community Orienting Policing Services unit, packed into Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse on Wednesday for a meet and greet that included a Q&A. The meeting was organized by Philip Rafshoon, owner of Outwrite and who is a member of the APD's LGBT Advisory Group. Several members of the advisory group were also in attendance.
Officers stressed they wanted to rebuild trust with the LGBT community that has eroded significantly since the unconstitutional raid on the Atlanta Eagle in 2009. The city settled a federal lawsuit in December for more than $1 million with patrons of the bar the night it was raided. Also as part of the settlement, the APD must conduct an in-depth investigation into the raid to be completed by June.
A Red Dog officer involved in the raid on the Atlanta Eagle attended the LGBT meet and greet at Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse on Wednesday and said he saw nothing happen the night of the raid.
Brian Walters, now a member of the Community Oriented Policing Services unit in Zone 6 was with other members of COPS at the meet and greet. Zone 6 includes Edgewood, Kirkwood and Grant Park. Walters is listed as Williams Walters in the federal lawsuit filed by bar patrons against the city and individual officers. The suit was settled by the city in December for more than $1 million.