ATLANTA — Thirteen days after 62-year-old Johnny Hollman's family said their final goodbyes, they gathered around a TV monitor inside City Hall to watch the confrontation that happened between him and an Atlanta Police officer just minutes before he died.
On Aug. 10 around 11:20 p.m., Atlanta Police said their officer was dispatched to a crash at Cunningham Place and Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard in southwest Atlanta. The crash involved Hollman and another driver.
APD said on scene their officer determined Hollman was at fault and attempted to issue him a traffic citation. It's what happened next that's being investigated by Atlanta Police Internal Affairs and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
On Friday, Hollman's family and their attorney, Mawuli Mel Davis, were allowed to watch the body camera footage of the officer attempted to arrest Hollman.
As the family walked out of City Hall on Friday afternoon, they were visibly upset as they approached the cameras. Hollman's daughter was not able to stand on her own.
Davis described what they watched as the most senseless death he's ever seen in the city of Atlanta.
He said in the video that you hear Hollman disputing the officer's decision that he was at fault in the crash. Davis said he asked the officer to call his supervisor.
"Instead of giving him a Sergeant, this officer told him he was going to arrest him for not signing the ticket," Davis explained.
APD described the incident in their narrative:
The officer attempted to take the driver into custody, but he resisted, and a struggle ensued. After several minutes struggling with the driver, the officer utilized his taser and, with the help of a witness, placed him into handcuffs. Once the driver was in handcuffs, the officer realized he was unresponsive and requested EMS to the scene.
Davis said Hollman wasn't armed and described what they saw in the video.
"As he (Hollman) attempts to sign it, he reaches out to sign the ticket the officer grabs him by the arm and begins to put him in custody and take him to the ground," Davis explained.
"He’s on the ground and he’s tasing him," he added. "And he’s saying 'I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe. Help me.' That’s what he’s crying out for. And this officer has a 62-year-old man. Such a cowardly act, such a cowardly act, such a cowardly act, for a ticket, for a ticket."
Hollman's final moments they now want the world to witness.
"You all should see the video. The public should see the video. This will have no impact on the investigation so stop hiding behind that, release the video, let the world see what you did to this deacon," he explained.
Hollman was a deacon at Lively Stones of God Ministries on MLK Jr. Dr. in Atlanta.
On Friday night, the Fulton County Medical Examiner said Hollman's cause of death and manner of death are still pending. The GBI said their investigation remains active. Atlanta Police also announced they are overhauling the procedure of how they handle drivers who refuse to sign traffic citations in order to help prevent what happened to Hollman.
Those changes can be read in full in our other story linked here.