Robby Kelley’s time at the Eagle has come to a close. The longtime co-owner of the popular Atlanta gay bar...
The Atlanta Citizen Review Board released today to the public its full investigative report on the raid of the Atlanta Eagle by the Atlanta Police Department.
And on Thursday, the LGBT Advisory Group sent Chief George Turner a letter asking he follow the recommended punishments to the officers and supervisors of the September 2009 raid.
The recommended punishments range from 3-day suspensions, written reprimands and Fourth Amendment training to all the officers involved in the raid to written reprimands and Fourth Amendment training for supervisors of the raid. One supervisor, a sergeant, was recommended for a 30-day suspension without pay for being “untruthful” during the CRB’s investigation.
In an interview with WSB TV, Mayor Kasim Reed spoke out for the first time about the current internal investigation into three Atlanta Police Red Dog Unit officers allegedly pulling over two men and strip searching them in the middle of the road in broad daylight. Two of the accused Red Dog officers were involved in the illegal raid on the Atlanta Eagle, a gay bar in Midtown.
"It is going to be robust and swift. We have a problem," Reed told WSB TV reporter Ryan Young.
The men's allegations are being investigated by the Citizens Review Board as well.
"Now when things when brought to our attention by the CRB we are not going to make excuses, we're going to change," Reed told WSB TV.
Conflicting reports emerged over the weekend about the fate of the Atlanta Police Department's notorious Red Dog Unit, but a police spokesman said this morning that the unit is not being disbanded.
WABE, citing anonymous sources, is reporting the unit may be disbanded as soon as this week. Reporter Jim Burress noted that APD spokesperson Sgt. Curtis Davenport said that was a "rumor."
WSB TV, however, had an exclusive interview with Chief George Turner over the weekend in which Turner told reporter Eric Philips that there were no plans to disband the unit.
Carlos Campos, spokesperson for the APD, said this afternoon, "To the best of my knowledge, [the Red Dog Unit] is not being disbanded today."
Three Atlanta Police Red Dog officers are being investigated for allegedly conducting a body cavity search on one man and groping of another during a traffic stop, WSB TV is reporting.
Two of the officers are members of the Red Dog Unit and were part of the raid on the Atlanta Eagle raid, a gay bar on Ponce de Leon Avenue, WSB also reported.
WSB reporter Eric Phillips reported during the 11 p.m. news that two men alleged they were pulled over by three Red Dog Unit officers, forced from their car at gunpoint and then made to pull down their pants.
"Who wants another man touching their... any parts of them ...without justice," Brian Kidd, one of the alleged victims, told WSB. His friend was made to undergo a body cavity search while standing in the middle of the road, Phillips reported. The incident occurred in June.
The Atlanta Eagle patrons and employees were falsely imprisoned and had their civil rights violated when the gay bar was raided a year ago by the Atlanta Police Department, according to the Atlanta Citizen Review Board.
Moses Perdue, the commander of the Office of Professional Standards with the Atlanta Police Department, has been relieved of his duties by Chief George Turner “as a result of allegations of misconduct currently being investigated by the Compliance Unit of the City of Atlanta’s Department of Law,” states a press release today from the APD.