Atlanta officer who shot man is out on bond

"God has answered his prayers and the truth has come out," Miller's attorney Mawuli Mel Davis said for Miller, who had difficulty talking.

Shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday, Fisher turned himself in to the Fulton County Jail without saying a word. Fisher was escorted by two unidentified men.

Jail officials said he was bonded out on $35,000 later Thursday night.

Miller, 28, was released from Grady Memorial Hospital on Tuesday with the bullet from the shooting still lodged in his jaw. He was home awaiting surgery to remove the bullet when he learned of the charges against Fisher, Davis said.

"We have concluded that at the time of the incident, Officer Fisher was acting in the capacity of a private security guard attempting to make an armed arrest of Mr. Miller without sufficient probable cause or legal justification," Howard said in a statement released early Thursday evening.

The Atlanta Police Department said it is "in full cooperation" with the district attorney's office's investigation.

"The actions of Officer Reginald Fisher do not represent the efforts of all Atlanta Police officers who serve the Atlanta communities with pride and dedication," police spokeswoman Sgt. Lisa Keyes said in a statement.

Fisher reportedly was working security at the Cityviews at Rosa Burney Park apartments on Richardson Street in southwest Atlanta without authorization.

In a police report from the incident, Fisher identified Miller as a "suspicious" individual and suggested he might have been involved in some illegal activity near the apartment.

Fisher said he ordered Miller at gunpoint to raise his hands, then saw Miller reach beneath the seat of his car.

Fisher fired once at Miller.

"At the time the shot was fired, a witness only a few yards away from the incident, was clearly able to see Mr. Miller's hands raised without a weapon offering no resistance to Officer Fisher," Howard said. "Our investigation reveals that Mr. Miller was not involved in any illegal activity."

Jack Jordan, who was about 20 to 25 yards away from the shooting, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he saw Miller's hands in the air.

"The cop kept telling him to show his hands," Jordan said. "I saw his hands."

Jordan said he heard a window break, and then heard a gunshot.

Miller has always maintained that he was at the apartment to help his quadriplegic aunt take her medicine.

"We feel these warrants are absolutely appropriate," Davis said. "It confirms for the rest of Atlanta what this young man and his family have been saying consistently from the beginning. The investigation reveals he was truthful and honest."

Investigators with Howard's office worked with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to review the shooting.

Howard said he will present the case to a Grand Jury within the next two months.

The Rev. Derrick Rice, a friend of Miller's family, said he was "cautiously optimistic" about the warrants, but is still waiting for an indictment and termination.

"We recognize this is one of a number of steps toward justice actually being brought to fruition. We will be watching that process very closely," Rice said Thursday night. "We are thankful to God that Tramaine's life was spared and the community was courageous to keep this story out there so it didn't get swept under the rug."

Fisher's personnel file, obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution using the Georgia Open Records Act, showed a rookie officer who'd been on the street for less than a year.

Evaluations in his personnel file -- both during his first six months as a police recruit -- offered no outstanding marks over his 17-month tenure with the Atlanta Police Department.

According to the evaluations signed in December 2007 and July 2008, Fisher earned "effective" on each of his critical job element ratings for customer service, procedure and equipment management.

Fisher joined the department after serving with three area fire departments between 2001 and 2007.

He joined the Clayton County Fire Department in May 2001 as a firefighter and emergency medical technician. Fisher left Clayton after nearly two years, and from 2003 to 2006 was a Forest Park fireman and EMT.

He became an Atlanta firefighter in July 2006, and remained until December 2007, when he joined the Atlanta Police Department.