Ex-Atlanta police officer gets 29 years in shooting death of Lyft driver
A former Atlanta police officer has been sentenced to 29 years in prison for his involvement in the 2024 fatal shooting of a Lyft driver and a previous DUI arrest.
Koby Minor, 34, who resigned after being arrested in May 2024, was originally charged with murder, felony murder and aggravated assault in the death of 35-year-old Reginald Folks. He pleaded guilty to reduced charges of voluntary manslaughter Tuesday.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee read the sentence in an emotional courtroom filled with Folks’ family and several Atlanta police officers.
Folks’ cousin, Alexis Mathis, described Folks as her protector and said she hoped Minor never knows peace.
“I hope you feel agony for every second for the rest of your life,” Mathis said.
Marchelle Folks described her son Reginald as a loving, hard-working man who enjoyed life. She questioned Minor’s character and mindset at the time of the shooting.
“He took away one of the greatest gifts from God and I cannot forgive him at this time,” she said.
Minor, who was an ex-Marine, spoke briefly and apologized to Folks’ family for taking their loved one. He said that there isn’t a day that goes by that he doesn’t think about the fatal shooting.
“I ask that you find it in your hearts to forgive me,” Minor said.
The shooting occurred on South Fulton Parkway near Stonewall Tell Road in Union City around 12:30 a.m. on May 15, 2024.
Minor said he had hailed the ride as he was leaving another police officer’s house. Minor said Folks was speaking on the phone with someone in a different language, and that he thought he heard another voice in Folks’ ear talking to him, according to arrest warrants.
Minor said he asked Folks to stop the car, but the driver didn’t stop. At a red light, Minor said, he tried to open the car door but couldn’t. Folks reached into the back seat, Minor said, so he pulled out his gun, shot Folks three times and then broke the window to escape.
A witness at the scene said Minor claimed Folks “is in a gay fraternity and was trying to recruit Minor into it and (he) believed he was getting kidnapped,” according to the warrants.
Minor’s attorney James Michael said his client was on medication at the time of the shooting and had partaken in marijuana and alcohol while at the other police officer’s house.
Folks’ father, Reginal Folks Sr., called the officer’s story a lie, adding that his son didn’t speak any other language.
“I pray that none of you ever have to experience this,” he said.
Folks Sr. said he has no sympathy or respect for Minor, adding that he feels Minor should have been sentenced to death.
“Allowing him the chance to ever walk the streets again would be an injustice,” he said.
Minor was hired by the APD in July 2018, but at the time of the shooting, he was on unpaid administrative leave after an arrest on Dec. 23, 2023 in Milton on charges of possession of a controlled substance and drugs not in an original container. He pleaded guilty to those charges Tuesday as well.
He was involved in a single-vehicle crash while “impaired” and had 20 Xanax pills, according to warrants from the 2023 arrest. His department-issued firearm was confiscated and placed in police custody after the arrest.
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