Atlanta officers not charged in violent arrests of Morehouse, Spelman students
The D.A. said that Messiah Young and Taniyah Pilgrim were violating curfew at the time they were tased by the officers
The six Atlanta police officers accused of using violent and excessive force against two college students amid a George Floyd protest in 2020 will not face charges. The Atlanta district attorney announced Monday that all charges against the officers were dropped because the officers’ actions were right on par with department policy, NPR reports.
Per the report, Twitter video footage shows officers attempting to stop the car of Messiah Young and Taniyah Pilgrim before more officers swarmed the dark-colored Mazda. Young and Pilgrim were college students at the time.
In the footage, police are seen breaking the driver’s side window and slashing the car’s tires before Young and Pilgrim were tased and eventually pulled from the car. The two were arrested and taken into custody at the Fulton County Jail.
The altercation took place after a 9 p.m. curfew was instituted by the mayor in response to the ongoing protests over the death of George Floyd and police brutality. Young was charged with “fleeing the scene” and driving without a license before the charge was dismissed at the request of former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Pilgrim was never charged.
“It’s probably one of the hardest moments that I’ve had to face in my life. I just can’t even fathom what happened,” Young said in a 2020 interview with CNN. “At this point, I’m just so far gone, it’s like I’m trying to remove myself from that situation, but it’s really hard to cope with.”
Young suffered a fractured wrist, bruised ribs, and 20 stitches in his forearm, theGrio reported.
“I haven’t even processed the situation and everything that happened,” Pilgrim told CNN. “I don’t want this to continue to happen and have more victims who are traumatized that can’t sleep, can’t eat. I don’t want that for anyone else. This is disgusting. This isn’t right.”
Per CBS, Ivory Streeter, Lonnie Hood, Mark Gardner, Ronald Claud, Willie Sauls, and Armond Jones were the officers charged but ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing following a nine-month independent investigation. Streeter and Gardner were reportedly fired following the incident, while the other officers were placed on administrative duty.
Atlanta Judicial Circuit District Attorney Pro Tempore Samir Patel said the officers’ actions were “proportional to the force necessary to effectuate the arrests.”
Patel noted that the officers’ use of force was “the direct result of Mr. Young and Ms. Pilgrim’s resistance to and noncompliance with the officers’ instructions.”
The D.A. said that Young and Pilgrim were violating curfew when the officers confronted them.
“It is also clear from the evidence that the use of the Taser, and indeed any force used by the officers ended immediately once Mr. Young and Ms. Pilgrim were subdued,” Patel said, adding, “Not only was law enforcement acting within the scope of their legal authority in their actions to obtain compliance, their actions were also largely consistent with the Atlanta Police Department’s own use of force policy.”
He also noted that “the video that was widely distributed through media in the days following May 30, 2020, was not an accurate portrayal of the entire encounter between Mr. Young, Ms. Pilgrim, and law enforcement,” Patel said.
TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku, and Android TV. Please download theGrio mobile apps today!
