ATLANTA — It's no secret that the Atlanta Police officer who was serving on an FBI task force when a 21-year-old man was killed earlier this year wasn't wearing a body camera.
Since the deadly shooting, the Atlanta Police Department has come up with a new policy on bodycams that would likely be one of the toughest in the metro area. The attorney for the family, however, said more needs to be done aside from changes to the policy.
Authorities said Atchison was killed in late January by Atlanta Officer Sung Kim. He was working on a task force with federal agents as they served a warrant when the shooting happened. The FBI said Atchison ran and was killed after leading officers and agents into an apartment. However, the family of Atchison claims he was unarmed and shot in a closet while surrendering.
Had the officer had been wearing a bodycam, it may have been easier to determine what happened that day.
Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields said she wants strong penalties for officers who fail to activate their body camera: for the first offense, a 16-day suspension and for the second, termination. Chief Shields said the bodycam policy will apply to officers participating in federal task forces.
While Atchison's family attorney, Tanya Miller, applauded APD for wanting to make changes, Miller believes there are more actions that need to be taken.
Below is Miller's statement:
Clarifying what we have repeatedly said is a murky and unenforced body camera policy is only one of the steps APD must take. The first step is to fire Officer Sung Kim, who is still drawing a paycheck, still on the force, didn’t wear his body cam, and killed Jimmy, who was in a closet, unarmed and shot in his face while his hands were up. The tragic reality for Jimmy’s family is there will be no second step or second chance for Jimmy as he was shot at point blank range, with no body cam to record the crime. We appreciate the progress APD is announcing but there is significantly more work to do on the road to justice for Jimmy Atchison and toward real police officer transparency and accountability.
While some approve of the changes, others believe it's too extreme.
It's also important to note that federal policy doesn’t allow bodycams, which could potentially exclude Atlanta police from federal task forces if officers are required to wear them.
MORE ON THE ATCHISON CASE |
- Months after he was killed, family still has no answers from the FBI on why
- Atlanta Police Chief, NAACP discuss 'serious concerns' about police shooting of unarmed black man
- NAACP demands meeting with Atlanta city leaders due to 'serious concerns' about police shooting of father
- Family of man killed in officer-involved shooting says he was unarmed and hiding in a closet