ATLANTA — After months of protests and demonstrations about police reforms, Atlanta Police are once again the focus of complaints alleging excessive and illegal use of force.
The two most recent incidents are under investigation. The families of those involved want to see the officers arrested and convicted.
Police Chief Rodney Bryant has not been silent. He’s accusing critics of rushing to judgment before all the facts are in.
Tuesday afternoon, outside Atlanta City Hall, Ashley Cooley made a brief appearance at the beginning of a news conference of police critics. With shouts of pain, anger, and fear, she protested what happened to her when police investigated a complaint about an argument at her apartment in the Summerhill neighborhood, south of downtown.
Her family and her attorney, Gerald Griggs, said after Cooley walked away, she was also pleading for help with her mental illness.
“As we can see, my client is in mental health distress,” said Griggs. “But what we are asking is for the city that’s too busy to hate to wrap their arms around her. To make sure that officials in this building [pointing behind him to Atlanta City Hall] do what’s right. That’s real police reform.”
A video posted Monday on social media shows Cooley face-down on the pavement, in police handcuffs, and an Atlanta police sergeant kicks her in her face.
Sergeant Marc Theodule was suspended Monday, without pay. Officer Bridget Citizen was placed on administrative desk duty because the video shows she did not intervene at that moment.
The Atlanta Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards is investigating them, and the incident.
“But what we need to do now,” Griggs said, “is to make sure these law enforcement officers are held accountable. At no point should an individual that’s handcuffed on the ground be kicked in their face, and exposed. We gotta do better, Atlanta.”
“You could look this girl in her eyes and tell that she needed help,” Cooley’s sister, Alexis Johnson said at the city hall news conference. “That’s a cry out."
"This girl has got down on her hands and knees and said (to police), ‘take me in because I’m a threat to myself and I may be a threat to others.’ And you still kick her in her face while she’s down on the ground with handcuffs on. She’s not even a threat to you or nobody else at that moment. If you don’t have the proper training, it’s not the field you need to be in," Johnson added.
RELATED: Video circulates of Atlanta cop kicking woman in head; Police sergeant, officer relieved from duty
Johnson said Cooley was arrested and taken to jail, then later released without any access to services that could help her. Johnson and the others at the news conference said they are angry that people are still having to speak out against Atlanta police and their use of force.
“We marched, we protested,” said Griggs, about how thousands in Atlanta demanded reforms that were promised a year ago.
Takita Davis, the cousin of Gabriel “Sam” Parker, said that over the weekend, police failed Parker.
Parker was shot to death when gunfire broke out in a big crowd, at a reunion of Bowen Homes residents--and police returned fire. Part of the GBI’s investigation, now, is to determine who shot and killed Parker to find out if it was someone in the crowd or an Atlanta police officer.
“He was a victim of violence,” Davis said. “And he should have been protected, not murdered."
"This is a sad, sad day. We are in shock that this happened," Davis added.
On Monday, Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant wrote a letter to the department about the shooting, and critics.
“Speaking on incidents without all the facts... is irresponsible. Stoking division and more police vs citizen sentiment shows a lack of regard for the safety and wellbeing of this city," the statement reads in part.
"The men and women of APD are called to respond to dangerous situations each day, they put their lives on the line in situations that never make the news, and they successfully deescalate potentially violent incidents daily," he added in the statement.
"We trust the GBI will do a thorough review and we will accept their findings regardless of the outcome," he said.
Griggs said that by his count, there are currently 97 cases of Atlanta police officers and other police officers in Fulton County, who are accused of excessive use of force, that are still awaiting prosecution in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.
“So this is not an anti-police thing,” Griggs said. “This is a pro-justice thing... We have enough police officers in this city. What we need is more justice.”