Atlanta Sued Over Deadly Cop Shooting
The Cochran Firm, with office locations nationwide
WXIA-TV - Atlanta,GA,USA
Reported By: Paul Crawley
Reported By: Jon Shirek
11/21/2007 12:51:40 PM
The family of a 92-year-old Atlanta woman shot to death by rogue police officers marked the one-year anniversary of her death Wednesday by suing the city of Atlanta for unspecified damages.
The suit, filed in Fulton County state court, accuses the city, police Chief Richard Pennington, and several officers of a pattern of corruption to violate the civil rights of citizens in order for officers to meet illegal performance quotas.
"The defendants have exhibited a pattern and practice of ignoring and violating the rights of the citizens of Georgia including [Kathryn Johnston]. [They were] indifferent to the constitutional rights of citizens including Kathryn Johnston," the lawsuit claimed.
"It was the city of Atlanta police department's custom, policy and practice to unlawfully search residences where there were no drugs and the occupants were not drug dealers, and/or to illegally enter and search residences and arrest occupants when they had no legal justification to enter the premises, let alone arrest anyone within the premises."
Kathryn Johnston died in a hail of police bullets when Atlanta narcotics officers burst into her Neal Street home armed with a no-knock search warrant based on lies about an informant supposedly buying drugs at her home. It turned out there were no drugs -- except the marijuana the officers planted in Johnston's basement after shooting her to death after she fired once with a rusty revolver.
Lawyers with the Cochran Law Firm, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Johnston's niece and other relatives, said the city repeatedly refused to meet with anyone from the family to discuss the case and their attempts at settling.
Family spokesman Markel Hutchins called the police department practices, "a time bomb waiting to explode," adding that Johnston's death exposed a pattern of unconstitutional attacks on innocent citizens simply to fulfill performance quotas.
The lawsuit was filed electronically just hours after Chief Pennington and Mayor Shirley Franklin faced reporters to talk about changes the police department has put into place since the shooting, plus the arrests and convictions of the officers involved in the case.
Pennington said a new team of 30 narcotics officers are on a short leash. For example, undercover drug buys must be videotaped by surveillance cameras whenever possible. Officers seeking to use no-knock warrants in drug raids must first get the warrants approved by a police major before they go to a judge.
When they serve warrants they must wear standard raid gear, not undercover clothing. Narcotics officers will undergo random drug testing, and yearly interviews to assure suitability in the unit.
The FBI continues to investigate the Atlanta Police Department because of the shooting. Pennington said his department continues to cooperate with the federal investigation.
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