An editor for an online news site said her adult son was targeted by Atlanta police officers as he attempted to sell a laptop computer he advertised on Craigslist. But officers were only acting on a tip that the laptop may have been stolen, an Atlanta Police Department spokeswoman said Monday.
In an emailed statement released Monday to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Goldie Taylor, editor-at-large for The Daily Beast, said her 25-year-old son, Josh, was attempting to sell his MacBook when he was approached by undercover officers, who put a Taser to his back, handcuffed him and searched his hard drive.
“At no time did any of the three officers present identify themselves or their agency, nor was my son ever told why he was being detained,” the statement said. “He feared for his life and thus complied with every command.”
The potential Craigslist buyer was actually someone whose laptop was stolen in April, according to Elizabeth Espy with Atlanta police. The buyer believed Josh Taylor may have been trying to resell a stolen computer and alerted police, Espy said.
When Josh Taylor arrived Thursday afternoon at the Caribou Coffee shop on Peachtree Road in Buckhead, officers were there and checked the computer to determine whether it had been stolen, police said. It had not, and Taylor was released.
Goldie Taylor said Monday that APD Chief George Turner’s office had contacted her son.
“We believe an internal review is underway,” she said.
Goldie Taylor recounted the incident, along with her reaction and comments, in a series of Twitter posts to her 86,000 followers. But the former Atlanta resident declined to be interviewed.
“My son’s wrists were bruised by the handcuffs. He had done nothing unlawful, exhibited no probable cause,” Taylor posted Thursday. “Once they determined that my son had done absolutely nothing, they took off the cuffs, apologized and left.”
Taylor said she called her personal friend, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, to tell him about the incident. Josh Taylor was a volunteer for Reed during the 2009 election, his mother said.
“What ‘suspicious’ activity did my son demonstrate? He posted his MacBook for sale on Craigslist. Armed undercover officers showed up,” Taylor posted online Saturday. “We still don’t know who the officers were or the real ID of the ‘buyer.’ But I’ve hired an attorney and an investigator to find out.”
In 2015, on the anniversary of Trayvon Martin's death, Taylor wrote an essay, published on Blue Nation Review, about her son.
“I, like so many others, had tacitly accepted the notion that our sons were required to meet a different standard when confronted by police or other people in authority,” she wrote. “There is, as almost every parent of a black boy will tell you, a way to behave that does not guarantee but (we hope) increases the chances that they will make it home.”
Taylor said on Monday that her son’s constitutional rights were violated, including his right to privacy and his protections against false imprisonment and illegal search and seizure.
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