Following an internal investigation and two-month suspension, Atlanta's Department of Public Works dismissed a 27-year veteran of the department after it determined he had participated in "inappropriate behavior in a city vehicle."
Atlanta police are investigating an incident involving Kinney Mitchell and a woman he picked up near Metropolitan Avenue on Jan. 24. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained a police report and narrative involving the case.
According to the police report, Mitchell told officers that the woman asked him for a ride, and after they got in the car, they agreed to have sex for $30.
Mitchell told police that he gave the woman $40 and asked for change, but she refused and took his coat, where she found his pay stub and asked for an additional $40.
When Mitchell refused, he told police, the woman threatened to report him for rape.
He said he ultimately gave the woman $80 and thought it was over, according to the police report.
In the woman’s narrative, in which her name had been blacked out, she told police that Mitchell picked her up and threatened her with violence if she refused sex.
Mitchell's bosses found out about the incident in March and launched the internal investigation.
“An employee was involved in inappropriate behavior in a city vehicle” was all Deputy Commissioner of Public Works Dexter White could say about the incident, even refusing to mention Mitchell’s name due to the likelihood of an appeal of his dismissal.
News of Mitchell’s firing comes the same week when four city of Atlanta employees, including a janitor at police headquarters, were arrested and charged with stealing municipal property.
APD janitor Thomas Simmons, 45, Randall Swinger, 45, and Willie Montford, 54, had each been employed by the city for at least 15 years. They were arrested, along with 29-year-old Eddie Chambliss, and charged with stealing property and selling it for the metal.
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