The family of a church deacon Johnny Hollman, who died after being tased by an Atlanta Police officer during a struggle at the scene of a traffic accident, has filed a federal lawsuit against the city, the police chief and the officer.
The family alleges in the 63-page lawsuit that former Officer Kiran Kimbrough used excessive force as he tried to get Hollman to sign a citation that said he was at fault for the Aug. 10 car crash in southwest Atlanta.
The excessive force by Kimbrough violated Hollman’s constitutional rights, according to the lawsuit filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
Body camera footage shows Kimbrough tased Hollman numerous times during the arrest despite Hollman saying over and over, “I can’t breathe.” A medical examiner ruled Hollman’s death a homicide but also said heart disease contributed to his death.
The lawsuit also alleges APD officers have a history of using excessive force against residents “with impunity and without consequences” from their supervisors, Chief Darin Schierbaum, Mayor Andre Dickens and other city officials.
“That’s why this lawsuit had to be filed,” said Mawuli Davis at a Jan. 18 press conference. Davis is an attorney with the Davis Bozeman Johnson Law Firm that is representing the Hollman family in the lawsuit.
“It’s really about will Atlanta policing change? Will the culture change?” Davis said.
Tiffany Roberts, the public policy director for the Southern Center for Human Rights, said at the press conference that the mayor, police chief and city council “are at the helm of one of the most deadly and dangerous police forces in the nation.”
She cited research by data scientist Samuel Sinyangwe, developer of Police Scorecard and Mapping Police Violence, that shows the Atlanta Police Department had a higher arrest rate for low-level offenses than 85% of other departments across the country – making 33 arrests for every 1,000 residents (68,656 arrests) from 2013 to 2021.
Roberts also alleged the APD has a pattern of “deliberate indifference to the gross constitutional violations of their police officers” especially against Black residents.
The Associate Press reported Hollman’s family has also sued a tow truck driver who assisted Kimbrough.
The family has announced after the body camera footage was released by the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office that they want Kimbrough charged with murder.
Chief Schierbaum fired Kimbrough two months after Hollman’s death. An internal investigation found that Kimbrough violated standard operating procedure when he failed to have a supervisor on the scene prior to proceeding with the physical arrest after Hollman failed to sign the accident citation.
The Fulton DA and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are still investigating the incident to determine if Kimbrough should face criminal charges.
Lance LoRosso, attorney for Kimbrough, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in October that he denies any wrongdoing.
The APD does not comment on pending litigation.
A spokesperson for Dickens also said the city cannot comment on pending litigation but that the “Hollman family remains in the mayor’s prayers.”
The spokesperson also noted that when the incident happened, Dickens immediately ordered a review of APD policies that led to several changes including revising procedures regarding traffic citations. Officers can now write “refusal to sign” in the signature line, rather than arrest a person who won’t sign a ticket.
Arnitra Hollman, daughter of Johnny Hollman, said she was on the phone with her father when the deadly incident occurred. She said there isn’t a day that goes by that she doesn’t hear her father’s voice in her head.
“When I think about this and the fact that the city is not taking accountability for what happened to our father, it’s like a slap in our face every time,” she said.
“
