Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced that two of the officers involved in the extremely disturbing video of a couple of college students being tased in their car during the protests have been terminated immediately and charged with aggravated assault. In addition, a total of six officers are facing charges from the incident.
The video was recorded on Saturday, showing Atlanta police violently pulling two black college students from their vehicle and tasering them. Taniyah Pilgrim, the owner of the car, was with Messiah Young, the driver, as they flagged a classmate over. A police officer tackled the student to the ground and told Young to keep driving or “go to jail.”
Young spent the night in jail. District Attorney Paul Howard says that he was released after his investigation determined that “they were so innocent almost to the point of being naive.”
Officers Ivory Streeter and Mark Gardner have been fired from the police force and charged with aggravated assault. Streeter faced an additional charge for pointing his gun at Messiah Young.
Officer Lonnie Hood was also charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of simple battery. Officer Willie Sauls was charged with aggravated assault and criminal damage to property. Officer E. Armond Jones was charged with aggravated battery and pointing a gun. Officer F. Ronald Claud has been charged with criminal damage to property.
