Atlanta shelling out more than a million dollars to settle gay bar raid case
Wed. May 25, 2011 11:37 PM by GoPride.com News Staff
Atlanta -
In September 2009, an Atlanta police unit called "Red Dog" raided a gay bar, and the city is still paying the price.
Atlanta has now hired a former U.S. attorney to examine what went wrong. His legal bills are piling up on top of the million-dollar settlement won by the eight men who were arrested that night. Charges against all of them were eventually dropped.
The city has also disbanded that police unit, which was supposed to be focusing on the street-level drug trade.
"When the investigation is concluded, I want to read the report and I want to implement whatever reforms are needed to make sure that what happened at the Eagle never happens in the city of Atlanta again," Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed told AJC.com.
One part of the investigation will focus on why the city didn't settle the case for free when they had the chance. At one point, the victims said they'd walk away with an apology and a promise of sensitivity training. The city rejected the officer, and the men eventually settled for all that -- plus more than a million bucks.
Atlanta has now hired a former U.S. attorney to examine what went wrong. His legal bills are piling up on top of the million-dollar settlement won by the eight men who were arrested that night. Charges against all of them were eventually dropped.
The city has also disbanded that police unit, which was supposed to be focusing on the street-level drug trade.
"When the investigation is concluded, I want to read the report and I want to implement whatever reforms are needed to make sure that what happened at the Eagle never happens in the city of Atlanta again," Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed told AJC.com.
One part of the investigation will focus on why the city didn't settle the case for free when they had the chance. At one point, the victims said they'd walk away with an apology and a promise of sensitivity training. The city rejected the officer, and the men eventually settled for all that -- plus more than a million bucks.