ATLANTA — Attorneys for two Atlanta police officers fired after being accused of using unnecessary force during protests in downtown Atlanta in late May have filed motions for immunity from prosecution in Fulton County Superior Court.
The two officers, Mark Gardner and Ivory Streeter, were charged in connection with an incident involving the tasing and arrest of two college students on Centennial Olympic Park Drive on Saturday, May 30.
As Morehouse student Messiah Young and Spellman student Taniyah Pilgrim were tased and pulled from the car they were riding in by police, the incident was seen on live television.
The following afternoon, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and then-Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields appeared at a press conference and immediately terminated the two veteran officers. Three other officers were placed on desk duty.
Gardner was later charged with aggravated assault, while Streeter is facing charges of aggravated assault and pointing or aiming a gun or pistol at another.
In her news conference, Bottoms said that she and Shields reviewed bodycam footage from the incident and, following extensive discussions, determined that the Streeter and Gardner should be immediately terminated for their actions.
An officer at the scene of the incident wearing Atlanta Police gear, told an 11Alive News crew on the scene that officers had signaled for the car to stop because another officer was in the road. The officer said that when the driver did not comply, officers surrounded the car.
That same officer alleges the driver reached for something in or near his pocket. The passenger, the officer said, was told to get out of the car. He alleges that she did not comply, and that is when the officers forced their way into the car.
According to the lawyers filing the immunity motions for Gardner and Streeter, on June 2, less than two days after the incident, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said during a news conference that there was no mention of a weapon by any of the officers involved in the incident.
The immunity motions, however, insist that after one of the officers discharged their Taser, that a gun was observed by another officer, who, according to the motion, yelled, "Gun, gun, gun, he's got a gun!"
The motions said that Howard was "raging about the conduct of the Officers involved" in the incident, and categorizing his presentation of information about the college students in terms of "knowingly or negligently stating incomplete and inaccurate information." In addition, the attorneys' motions point out that at the time, Howard was in the final days of a primary campaign during which he was facing a "strong and competent challenge."
11Alive News reached out to the District Attorney's office for a comment on the motions filing, but they did not provide one.
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