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The actions of the police were not motivated by any real concern about unlicensed dancing or lewd conduct: Forcing fully-dressed patrons to lay face-down on the ground, searching their pockets, putting their names into a police computer, and keeping them on the floor long after they had been searched is not logically related to any legitimate investigation of lewd conduct or unlicensed underwear dancing. The Supreme Court has made it clear that police may not search or seize an individual simply because he is in a public place where others may be breaking the law, and Americans have the right to go to a legal public place without fear of being searched or seized by the police as long as they themselves obey the law. The warrantless search and seizure of everyone present at the Atlanta Eagle was simply illegal: Police officers may not search, seize, or arrest an individual unless they have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to believe that particular individual is personally involved in criminal activity. (The bar’s four dancers were charged with “dancing in underwear” without a permit, and four employees were charged with operating an adult entertainment establishment without a license.) No drugs were found on anyone at the bar, and no-one was charged with public sex, indecent exposure, lewd conduct, or any other crime. At the end of the raid, the only charges filed by the police were against the four dancers and four bar employees, and related to the “unlicensed adult entertainment” that the officers originally raided the bar to investigate.
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When the patrons were eventually released, not a single patron was charged with breaking any law. When I asked if I could move away from the broken glass, I was told, ‘ Shut the fuck up or you’ll be handcuffed.’ The police were laughing and joking while we were lying there and at different times, I heard them say, ‘You people make me sick’ and ‘I hate fags.’ One of them said, ‘This is fun we should do this every week.’” One of the patrons (whose father was a police officer), described the scene to a reporter: “Nothing was ever explained to us by the officers. (click to enlarge)Īccording to the patrons (a group which included several elderly men), police officers shoved people to the ground, threatened to hit them in the head with barstools, handcuffed people, made racist and anti-gay comments, and forced patrons to remain flat on the ground, with their faces against a floor covered in some areas with spilled beer and broken glass, even long after they had been searched and found to be unarmed. Godfrey assured Judge Timothy Batten the city would now comply fully with the order.Excerpt from Police Report. Glazier, who was in charge of an initial round of officer training related to the Eagle raid, says follow-up measures will begin “immediately.” (JIM BURRESS/WABE)īut in federal court Tuesday, Deputy City Attorney Robert Godfrey admitted the APD had been lax – which deviated from the city’s earlier promise to fight the charges.
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Jeff Glazier talks to reporters outside of the Russell Federal Courthouse Tuesday.
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But in addition to the money, the court also required the Atlanta Police Department implement a host of reforms – everything from retraining officers on lawful search and seizure procedures to the use of nametags. In 2011, the city agreed to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit for $1 million. The case goes back to the botched 2009 raid on the Atlanta Eagle, a Midtown gay bar. For the second time in less than a week, an attorney for the City of Atlanta admitted to a federal judge the Atlanta Police Department hasn’t fully followed the court’s order.