Authorities in Georgia have dropped felony charges against protesters as bodycam footage apparently shows officers admitting, at the time, that there was no justification for the tougher charge.
As Reason has documented, activists oppose the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center in a forested area outside the city limits; protesters call the project "Cop City" and use the slogan Stop Cop City as a rallying cry. State and local authorities have cracked down aggressively, hitting more than 60 protesters with charges including racketeering, terrorism, and money laundering.
On July 29, 2022, protesters entered the Convocation Center, a sports arena at Georgia State University (GSU) that was under construction at the time. According to an incident report from the GSU Police Department (GSUPD), witnesses said protesters entered the building, "damag[ed] a few of the walls and some signage," and shouted "Stop Cop City" and "Stop Brasfield [&] Gorrie," a general contracting firm responsible for the construction of both the Convocation Center and the police training facility.
In the report, a GSUPD officer responding to the scene says he "observed a large group of people wearing mainly black and camouflage clothing in front of" the building, yelling at the construction workers inside. The officer writes that he identified himself and ordered the protesters to stop, "at which point the group looked at me and ran away." He radioed in when he lost sight of them, and a nearby GSUPD sergeant spotted an SUV he suspected may contain some of the suspects. The sergeant "initated a traffic stop" and detained the occupants after determining they matched the descriptions of the protesters.
In all, seven people were arrested and booked. In a September 2023 indictment in Fulton County Superior Court, all seven defendants were formally charged with burglary in the second degree, a felony punishable by at least one year and as many as 20 years in prison, for entering the building "without authority and with the intent to commit a felony therein"; criminal damage to property, a felony carrying between one and five years, for causing more than $500 worth of damage to "the door and walls of the Georgia State University Convocation Center" by "forcing entry into the building through the door and removing signage from the walls"; and willful obstruction of law enforcement officers, a misdemeanor, for "running after being told to stop."
On October 24, 2024, prosecutors dropped charges against two of the protesters and entered the other five into pre-trial diversion programs, with prosecution to be deferred in the meantime and charges dismissed at the conclusion of the program.
Notably, that same day, a video of bodycam footage was uploaded to YouTube by the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, a bail fund often used by Cop City defendants. The fund's organizers were indicted for racketeering and money laundering last year before prosecutors abruptly dropped the latter charges in September.
The video appears to take place during the protesters' 2022 arrest. (There is a business visible in the background whose address corresponds with the site listed in the GSUPD report.) An unidentified officer notes that the protesters "were confirmed in the building" and "kicked over some stuff," but he notes that authorities "can't really charge 'em with [any] sort of felony."
Major Jessica Bruce of the Atlanta Police Department (APD), who is standing to the side, then adds, "Anything we can…anything, guys. Anything we can get will help us out tremendously with this group. I know it's a reach." The officer wearing the bodycam then places his palm over the camera and begins adjusting settings, and the video cuts off, though it's not clear whether the officer shut it off or if this was done later. (An APD Public Affairs officer tells Reason via email that the department has no reports for this incident.)
The video is less than 30 seconds long, and it's not clear who the officers are talking to. And with further context, there may be a perfectly reasonable explanation for the comments. But as presented, it seems to depict Bruce—who now holds the rank of deputy chief—asking for some sort of justification to charge protesters with felonies, even as she acknowledges it would be a "reach." (APD did not respond to Reason's request for comment or clarification about the video by press time.)
"With just a few days before trial, the prosecutor has dropped all charges at the last minute," the Atlanta Solidarity Fund said in a statement issued this week. "This is a clear indication that both police and prosecutors understood that the charges could never hold up in court. Criminal charges were used as a weapon to punish and terrorize critics of the police."
Sixty-one other Stop Cop City protesters remain under indictment for racketeering, even though the vast majority are not accused of anything more serious than misdemeanor trespassing. Prosecuting certain people for certain violent or destructive acts is likely justified, but it remains the case that much of the prosecution's stance toward protesters in Georgia is based less on the law and more on shutting people up.
"Our case illustrates the flimsy nature of the state's prosecutions against all of us," Laurel Leckert, one of the protesters whose charges were dropped, said in a statement issued Thursday. "[Georgia] Attorney General Chris Carr should end this charade and drop all of the charges against Stop Cop City activists."
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