City Of Atlanta Settles Claims in Botched Gay Bar Raid, Other Police Misconduct Cases

Those cases include:

• $50,000 paid to a woman whose recording of a police beating was confiscated and destroyed.  APD must update its procedures to specifically forbid confiscating or destroying pictures or video.
•  $470,000 to settle a public strip search case.  Officers must undergo training every two years regarding proper arrest procedure.
• $90,000 to a woman who APD arrested while she was sitting in a chair, not in violation of any law.
• And bringing to a close the botched 2009 raid on the Atlanta Eagle, the city will pay ten men a total of $330,000. That’s on top of settlements of more than a million dollars in the case.

“The team of six or seven lawyers and also our clients believed that it was important to do something for the public at large, as well as the individual clients,” said attorney Dan Grossman. “This settlement is a great combination of both.”

Grossman added that he’s ready to move forward after two years of contentious negotiations, 11 cases of alleged police misconduct brought before the city, and more than $2.6 million dollars in judgments against– and settlements with–the city.

“I’ve seen signs that the city government wants to improve the Atlanta Police Department.  I’m going to hope that that’s what happens,” Grossman said.

In a prepared media statement, Mayor Kasim Reed touted improvements already made to the department.

He wrote:

“The city is pleased to end this chapter of litigation and move forward in the spirit of cooperation. Plaintiffs and the city jointly recognize that now is the time to end costly and time-consuming litigation and conflict, and move forward with a newly-strengthened relationship between the police department and the community.”

Settlement Two Years in the Making

Shortly after the 2009 botched raid on the Atlanta Eagle, a Midtown gay bar, Dan Grossman, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Southern Center for Human Rights sued the City of Atlanta in federal court alleging APD violated patrons’ civil rights.

The night of the raid, APD’s vice unit and now defunct RED DOG squad stormed the bar following an undercover investigation into alleged public sex.

During the military-style raid, police forced patrons to the ground, handcuffed and detained them, and ran ID checks on everyone present.

No patron was suspected of a crime.

None were arrested for having public sex.

Police arrested and took to jail eight Eagle employees, charged with violating city code.  A municipal court judge found the men not guilty.

APD’s lead investigator into the Eagle, Bennie Bridges, was later charged with DUI and marijuana possession.

An internal investigation and a 349-page independent report from Atlanta law firm Greenberg Traurig confirmed what bar patrons had said all along: APD messed up, not only during the raid, but after.  Police violated the law, destroyed and withheld evidence, and ignored patrons’ civil rights.

The city later settled most of the Eagle claims for more than $1-million.

Several officers were disciplined, left the force, or were fired because of their involvement. Those officers asked for their jobs back, but a city board denied reinstating them.

Even though the city settled the first round of Eagle claims, the City Law Department continued to fight a final lawsuit, until agreeing in recent days to a settlement.