Police oversight panel to study APD supervisors role in gay bar raid

By Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Atlanta Citizen Review board says 24 police officers falsely imprisoned patrons of a gay Midtown bar, but wants to know more about the role police supervisors played in last year's raid..

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Elissa Eubanks, eeubanks@ajc.com Friday is the one-year anniversary of a raid in which more than 20 Atlnata officers detained and searched over 50 Atlanta Eagle customers. Then-police Chief Richard Pennington held a news conference days afterward to explain the arrets at one of the city's largest gay clubs.

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The board voted Thursday night at its regular monthly meeting to conduct a study of the roles of supervisors during the Sept. 10, 2009, raid of the Atlanta Eagle. The board's oversight committee said it would delay recommendations on punishing the officers until the study is complete.

The CRB, a citizens oversight board created by the Atlanta City Council, is limited in the kinds of complaints it can investigate, and the actions of police supervisors is among them. But the board has a great deal of latitude in conducting studies, according to the city ordinance.

Friday is the one-year anniversary of the raid, in which more than 20 APD officers detained and searched over 50 Atlanta Eagle customers, making some of them lie handcuffed and face-down on a floor that was littered with glass and spilled beer.

Some patrons said they were not allowed to move for more than an hour while officers confiscated their driver's licenses and checked for criminal records. Customers also said they had to endure anti-gay slurs from some of the officers.

The CRB staff said Thursday it could not identify the officers who allegedly made those comments because the patrons were face-down on the floor and could not see who was speaking. The officers involved in the raid denied making or hearing slurs.

According to Atlanta police records, the raid was staged because of reports of drug activity at the club and after undercover vice officers said they had seen men having sex at the club while customers looked on. No illegal drugs were found during the searches of employees and customers, and no one was charged with having illicit sex.

Club owners filed a federal lawsuit against APD and it is still pending.

The CRB was created in 2007 in response to the fatal police shooting of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston in a botched drug raid several months earlier. The CRB has become  known  for its fights to get officers and the police command staff to cooperate with its investigations.

The board only has the authority to recommend punishment if the members find fault, and the police chief can either accept or reject those findings.