Review finds widespread wrongdoing in Atlanta Eagle bar raid

At least 10 police officers lied and then many of them deleted data on their cellphones in an attempt to hide their actions the night of a raid on a Midtown Atlanta gay bar, according to the findings of an independent review.

The report from former U.S. Attorney Joe Whitley and a team of attorneys from the law firm Greenberg Traurig also found top police officials gave misleading information to the public when they answered reporters' questions about the controversial raid at the Atlanta Eagle bar on Sept. 10, 2009.

A statement from the mayor's office, released late Tuesday evening along with a 343-page report, said the independent review corroborated claims made in a federal lawsuit that has since been settled for more than $1 million. The mayor's office also released simultaneously a 39-page report of the internal police investigation of the raid.

"The reports conclude that most of the officers involved in the operation did not conform to the APD’s standard operating procedures," city attorney Cathy Hampton said in a statement Tuesday night.

"Mayor Kasim Reed and Chief George Turner have made the resolution of this matter a top priority and will review both reports," Hampton said. "Chief Turner will determine appropriate disciplinary action in short order."

There also are plans for an expert to conduct extensive training for every APD officer within the next 90 days.

The controversy began when APD vice officers and members of the now-defunct RED DOG unit raided the bar. APD said the raid was conducted based on reports that men were engaging in sex at the bar while others watched. Patrons and employees said they were illegally detained and some were forced to lie on the barroom floor for as long as an hour while officers checked for criminal histories and peppered them with slurs about their homosexuality.

The report confirmed that some officers directed offensive language and slurs at some of the patrons during the raid.

Eight people were arrested that night but the charges were either dropped or dismissed.

According to the Greenberg Traurig report, 10 members of the vice unit and the RED DOG team, including three supervisors, violated APD's policy regarding truthfulness. Most law enforcement agencies consider lying a firing offense, partly because that officer's credibility can be challenged in court.

The report also found 24 officers illegally searched patrons, illegally detained them and illegally took their belongings, including cellphones and wallets.

The reviewers did not find any fault with eight of the 32 sergeants, investigators and officers who participated in the raid.

The internal APD investigation sustained complaints violating police policies against 23 officers, including a major. Their offenses ranged from lack of supervision to lying, to showing bias, to using unnecessary force.

The Dec. 8 settlement of the federal lawsuit filed after the raid, which cost taxpayers more than $1 million, required APD to complete within 180 days all internal investigations, including a review of the raid at the Atlanta Eagle. The initial deadline for a report of the internal review of the 2009 raid was June 6. But the city secured a three-week extension, which pushed the deadline to Monday. The mayor's office released the two reports in tandem after 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Earlier Tuesday, the mayor's spokeswoman said Whitley and Greenberg Traurig were putting final touches on the separate investigation of APD and the City Law Department's handling of the lawsuit. The Greenberg Traurig report did not have a court-ordered deadline, however. That review was requested by the mayor.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE GREENBERG TRAURIG REPORT [PDF]

http://atlantaeagleraid.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Greenberg-Traurig-Highlights.pdf

Untruthfulness

The Greenberg Traurig report confirmed widespread lying by officers both under oath (in court testimony and sworn statements) and in statements to the Atlanta Citizen Review Board and others. The report identified ten individual officers who violated the APD regulation regarding truthfulness (GT report, see chart on p. 302), for which the disciplinary sanction is dismissal.

With regard to the lead investigator of the Eagle Raid, Investigator Bennie Bridges, the report concluded: “Bridges sworn testimony presented in front of a Court of Law as well as his discovery responses are untruthful.” (GT report, p. 174)

The report also cited Officer Jeremy Edwards, who claimed that he witnessed 5-10 men having sex at the Eagle on the night of the Raid. Greenberg Traurig concluded: “In light of all of the record evidence, that statement is false.” (GT report, p. 185.) Officer Edwards was also found to have lied about evidence on his mobile phone: Edwards denied using a mobile phone during the raid, and at one point even denied having a mobile phone at all, but forensic examination of his cell phone uncovered both a photograph he took during the Raid and text messages he exchanged with a Red Dog officer during the Raid. (GT report, pp. 80-81; 184).

Two officers even lied about whether they had previously lied. Federal Magistrate Judge Linda T. Walker found that officers Brandon Jackson and James Menzoian had been untruthful in testimony in her court in 2009, but when they were asked in the Eagle litigation if they had “ever been found to have been untruthful or to have misled any court, judge, [or] magistrate,” both Jackson and Menzoian said “No.” The Greenberg Traurig report concluded: “This is a misstatement of a material fact, and thus, we find it to be untruthful.” (GT report, pp. 244, 259.)

Destruction of Evidence

On October 6, 2010, the Plaintiffs filed a motion with the Court alleging that several APD officers intentionally destroyed evidence in a federal case by deleting data on mobile phones Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr. had ordered them to produce.

The Greenberg Traurig report devoted 39 pages to a detailed analysis of this issue (pages 67-106). The report concluded that ten officers failed to “obey the law” in connection with their “mass deletion of cell phone data.” (GT report. p. 106.)

Unlawful Search & Seizure and False Imprisonment

The report found 24 Atlanta police officers responsible for false imprisonment and unlawful search and seizure for detaining the patrons of the Atlanta Eagle without any reason to suspect them of a crime. (GT report, see chart on p. 302-303.) For example, the report concluded that “Sergeant Adams and the Red Dog Unit falsely imprisoned the patrons when they were detained without reasonable suspicion or probable cause.” (GT report, p. 164.)

Intentional Violation of Constitutional Rights

The report found that Raid commanders including Red Dog Sgt. Willie Adams and Vice Sgt. John Brock knowingly violated the rights of persons at the Eagle:

“Sergeant Adams knowingly violated the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches.” (GT report, p. 162.)

“Sergeant Brock knowingly violated the patrons’ Fourth Amendment rights when he instructed that all patrons to be frisked for weapons. … Although Sergeant Brock recognizes that APD does not have the right to pat down every person at a crime scene unless they were involved with the crime, Sergeant Brock instructed Vice officers to frisk each and every patron for weapons.” (GT report, pp. 145-146.)

Anti-Gay Discrimination

The report concluded that patrons of the Eagle were forced to lay face-down on the floor during the Raid in part because of anti-gay prejudice on the part of Raid commander Sgt. John Brock. The report concluded: “By allowing the sexual orientation of the patrons to influence tactical decisions of the Raid, Brock allowed his preconceived notions of a class of persons to dictate the treatment of individuals.” (GT report, pp. 143-144.)

In describing his belief that gay people are more violent than heterosexuals, Brock stated: “In the past I have as a patrol officer handled calls where there are gay couples living in residence where one is mad at the other, and they slash clothes, furniture, anything they can do. They’re very violent.” (GT report, pp. 142-143.) When asked if he thinks “that the gay community is more violent than other citizen groups” Brock replied: “My experience, yes. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, when they’re — when they get mad, they get really mad.”

The report also found that officers made anti-gay remarks both during the Raid itself (GT report. P. 31) and during the investigation that followed, including Officer Jeremy Edwards who described a “man have sex with another man” as being “very violent.” (GT report, p. 179-180).

Command Failures; Failure to Supervise

The report identified failures by senior APD commanders.

In finding Vice Unit commander Tony Crawford responsible for “Unsatisfactory Performance,” the report stated: “Lieutenant Crawford did not provide the Vice Unit with an adequate level of supervision. As previously stated, Crawford rarely, if at all, attended details and was generally unavailable to the Vice Unit. By all accounts, during Crawford’s tenure, Sergeant Brock was handling the day-to-day operations of the Vice Unit, including supervising the vast majority of evening undercover details.” (GT report, pp. 133-134.) The report also found that Lt. Crawford “was untruthful with regard to material issues.” (GT report, p. 134.)

The report determined that “Major [Debra] Williams, as the highest ranking SES official failed to adequately supervise the Eagle Investigation. In addition, Major Williams presented an inaccurate statement to the public regarding APD policies and procedures.” (GT report, p. 128.)

According to the report, Vice Sgt. Kelly Collier “did nothing when he saw patrons ordered to the ground detained despite his belief that such a detention was illegal.” (GT report, p. 153.) “As a sergeant, Collier was responsible for ensuring that the officers at the Eagle that night complied with the rules, regulations and Standard Operating Procedures. By his own admission, Collier failed to properly observe and supervise the officers, including during the time they were conducting improper frisks.” (GT report, p. 152.)

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