EXCLUSIVE - Interview with Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard on the 6 APD officers fired
By King Williams
Welcome to my freemium newsletter by me, King Williams. A documentary filmmaker, journalist, podcast host, and author based in Atlanta, Georgia.
This is a newsletter covering the hidden connections of everything in the world of Atlanta from urbanism, to politics and entertainment.
video via 11 Alive, NBC Atlanta
After this viral video of two college students being tased and dragged by members of the Atlanta Police Department (APD), many people took again to the streets of Atlanta to pursue justice against police brutality.
Since the release of the video four of the officers have been placed on desk duty and two others have been fired from APD. For many, this reaction of the officers towards students who were not protestors but merely going to go get something to eat has prompted more backlash. Backlash that APD is somewhat surprised in receiving.
For those critical of policing in the Bottoms administration, this most recent incident adds to the list.
Many residents and business owners have loved it, as Atlanta has steadily been moving towards crime reduction goals, which has been a hallmark of the first few months of the Bottoms administration.
These moves played well to the Buckhead crowd, new Atlanta residents, and business owners who value having a larger footprint of officers in the city.
But as a result of the protests and subsequent vandalism after the protests, APD has been much more aggressive in handling anyone deemed to be a protestor. And as a result, two college students have been seen on camera being assaulted by APD, which has led to a swift action by the Bottoms administration.
Actions that only arose after cell phone footage went viral, leading to the case now being taken up by Fulton County District Attorney, Paul Howard. Howard is the first DA in the state of Georgia ever as well as the longest-serving.
He is currently up for re-election, and is racing against two opponents on next Tuesday, June 9th.
In this interview we talked about why his office, took up the case, why does it take so long for these cases to go to trial and what penalty he would seek against the officers.
Please check out the interview on my youtube channel below and as always let me know what you think!