Mother seeks damages a year after son was fatally shot by Atlanta officer
Valerie Lans-Anderson has been waiting for more than a year for answers in the death of her 38-year-old son, who was fatally shot by an off-duty Atlanta police officer in August 2024.
Melvin Potter, who is still employed with the department, has not been charged in Devon Anderson’s shooting outside a College Park bar. Anderson’s family contends the officer was intoxicated when the two got into a fight.
Lans-Anderson is tired of waiting.
Earlier this week, she filed a federal lawsuit naming Potter, Atlanta police Chief Darin Schierbaum, the city of Atlanta and a security liaison from an adjacent business as responsible for her son’s death.
“I still don’t believe my son is gone — much less for a year — with no answers, no accountability, no transparency,” Lans-Anderson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution two months ago. “The injustice is so blatant.”
According to the GBI, Potter and Anderson got into an argument outside Harold’s Chicken and Ice Bar on Aug. 5, 2024, that escalated to the point that the off-duty officer pulled out his gun and shot Anderson, who was unarmed. The lawsuit alleges Anderson was trying to defuse the situation, but Potter reacted “by invoking his APD authority.”
“APD Officer Melvin Potter acted under color of law in using his APD firearm, flashing his badge, invoking his police authority,” the lawsuit states.
The GBI, which turned over the case to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office in January, said Potter was escorting someone to their car about 1 a.m. when the argument began. The DA’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the status of the case.
Potter was still at the scene when officers arrived. The lawsuit alleges he was under the influence of alcohol and other illicit substances at the time.
After speaking to authorities, Potter was arrested on a misdemeanor obstruction charge after he refused to take a blood-alcohol test, the AJC previously reported. He was booked into the Fulton jail and released the same day on a $1,000 bond, online records show.
In the lawsuit, Anderson’s family alleges multiple instances in which Atlanta police have failed to address misconduct and use-of-force incidents over the past decade. Primarily, the lawsuit focuses on misconduct by Potter, including a 2021 arrest in Coweta County for driving under the influence.
As a result of his conviction in April 2022, Potter was placed on administrative probation for three years by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council. He was still on that probationary period when Anderson was killed.
According to records obtained by the AJC, Potter has been the subject of at least eight internal investigations since joining the department in 2015, including for vehicle accidents, conduct in court and other incidents.
The lawsuit also lists several instances of misconduct and use of force by other APD officers, including DUI or other arrests over the past 13 years.
APD has a custom and policy of “retaining and entrusting unsuitable officers,” failure to have an adequate early warning system in place and has “a custom of turning a blind eye to the deeply troubling behavior” of officers, the lawsuit alleges.
Atlanta police officials did not respond to a request for comment.
The Anderson family is not seeking punitive damages from the city but asked to be awarded damages from all of the other defendants.
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