DEL.ICIO.USUpdated: 11:22 a.m. December 04, 2008
Lithonia’s ex-mayor arrested at housing project
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Lithonia’s former mayor was arrested Monday after a confrontation with workers and police at a city housing project.
City police charged Joyce McKibben with criminal trespass, disorderly conduct and obstruction — all misdemeanors — after she refused to leave the Kelly Street project and alleged pushed two officers, according to police reports.
McKibben denies that she touched the officers, though she admits she wouldn’t leave the housing project. She was there, she said Wednesday evening, as part of a Thanksgiving weekend project to help a Somalian family move out of the project and into a better home.
“I knew it was coming,” McKibben said of her arrest, adding she adopted the nonviolent stance of Jesus being led to his arrest. “I didn’t resist. I cooperated fully.”
That conflicts with police reports, which said McKibben was at the unit with the tenant during a walk-through to inspect for damages. The incident report says maintenance workers felt McKibben was egging on the tenant as she argued about paying for damages.
McKibben refused to leave, saying because the tenant still had keys to the unit, the apartment remained her private home.
“She just kept interfering with housing authority personnel doing their job,” said Lithonia Police Lt. Michael Gaddis.
When officers tried to escort McKibben from the property, the report states, McKibben pushed both men before finally allowing herself to be arrested.
She was booked into DeKalb County Jail and was released on $300 bail after being held for about three-and-a-half hours.
Her attorney, Mawuli Davis, said the arrest was the latest in a series of harassing incidents by police and housing authority officials. Davis represented McKibben in an arrest for obstruction earlier this year. A magistrate dismissed the charge Nov. 17.
McKibben was recalled from office in September after just nine months as mayor but managed to come in second in a Nov. 18 vote to replace her.
A longtime community activist, McKibben has since re-opened her community center, The Repertoire. The Somalian family, including a newborn son and 4-year-old girl with cancer, came to her center four years ago in search of social services.
The family has since moved to Clarkston, though the girl remains in the hospital for chemotherapy treatments, McKibben said.
The Somolian woman, who Davis identified only as Mrs. Yusef, was not charged and was not available for comment Wednesday.
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