There were many lies, according to an independent review of a controversial police raid of a Midtown Atlanta gay bar 22 months ago.
The 343-page report, released late Tuesday evening, also noted that officers knowingly violated the constitutional rights of the patrons, employees and owners of the Atlanta Eagle bar and then tried to cover up what they had done by deleting cellphone files. Ten officers are accused of lying.
The report, based on a three-month review by former U.S. Attorney Joe Whitley and the law firm Greenberg Traurig, also noted that claims made in a now-settled $1 million federal lawsuit are apparently true. Mayor Kasim Reed had ordered the independent review, which was released at the same time as the Police Department's internal review.
The city said in a statement accompanying the release of the two reports that officers at the Eagle bar raid "did not conform to the APD’s standard operating procedures" and "resolution of this matter is a top priority" of the mayor and Police Chief George Turner.
The reports are the latest findings of police wrongdoing relating to the raid on Sept. 10, 2009. Two anonymous complaints two months apart started a brief police investigation and orders to send members of APD’s vice unit and the now-defunct Red Dog team to the Ponce de Leon Avenue bar.
With officers shouting obscenities and slurs, virtually everyone in the bar -- about 60 people -- was handcuffed that night and ordered to lie on the floor, according to witnesses.
In the end, eight men were arrested for licensing violations, but the cases were later dropped or dismissed. And then the Atlanta Citizen Review Board investigated allegations of abuse and about a year ago sustained those allegations.
"This really undercuts the notion that APD can regulate themselves," said CRB executive director Cristina Beamud. "It should not take 18 months and a 345-page report to identify the violations that occurred on that night. ”
And a federal lawsuit filed two months after the raid was settled last December for $1 million.
"We shouldn't have had to fight so hard for so long for the Police Department to do the right thing," said Dan Grossman, the attorney who filed the lawsuit. "The most important finding has to do with officers lying. The criminal justice system falls apart when police officers lie."
The independent review, based on interviews and documents, offers diametrical descriptions of events that night. The patrons describe chaos while the officers detail order.
According to witnesses in the bar, the raiding officers threatened, shoved and intimidated them. At least one man cried while he was prone on the floor. Another said he was not allowed to get up or move even though the floor was covered with spilled beer and broken glass. An employee had to be hospitalized because of the stress of the raid. The manager said a Red Dog officer kicked in a door even after he offered to unlock it.
After everyone had been released, some said, Red Dog officers "celebrated by high-fiving and jumping on top of each other like they were ‘football players that [had] just won a game,' ” the report said.
At the same time, according to the report, no officers "even acknowledged using or hearing other officers use abusive language," profanity or gay slurs that night. No officers admitted using or observing other officers employing excessive force at the Eagle, according to the report.
Most also said they did not remember if they ordered patrons to the floor, if they used their cellphones or if they took photographs.
According to the independent review, officers lied about things big and small, including details easily verified. Some officers told varying versions of the same events to the Citizen Review Board, to internal affairs investigators and in court filings and testimony.
And they tried to cover up details, the report said, with "mass deletions" of emails, text messages and photographs just days after a federal judge ordered them turned over.
Greenberg Traurig said its investigation also revealed the “potential prejudice and bias” against homosexuals.
Neither report from Greenberg Traurig or APD's Office of Professional Standards recommended punishment, which is not unusual for these kinds of reports.
An APD spokesman said Turner, the police chief, will read the reports and decide on what disciplinary measures to take.
"While there is no deadline for completing the review," spokesman Carlos Campos said, "I can assure you Chief Turner views this as a top priority.”
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