FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 7, 2024
Newly Revealed Body Cam Footage Shows Police Conspiring to Fabricate Charges Against Cop City Opponents in 2022 Arrest
Fulton County District Attorney Drops Charges Against Two Defendants, Offers Diversion to Five Others, While Six Sue City of Atlanta and Police
ATLANTA, GA —Newly revealed police body camera footage involving a July 29, 2022 arrest of seven Stop Cop City activists at a Brasfield & Gorrie work site shows police conspiring to apply false criminal charges against activists engaged in routine political protest. In the video, Georgia State University (GSU) police explain to an Atlanta Police Department (APD) Major there is no basis to arrest on felony charges and, in response, the APD Major pressures them to apply charges in order to “help us out…I know it’s a reach.” Ultimately, the seven activists were charged with two felonies – burglary and property destruction – and misdemeanor obstruction, and held for five days in Fulton County Jail.
Less than two weeks ago, after more than two years of prosecuting the case, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office dropped all charges against two of the activists, Gina Dickhouse and Laurel Leckert. The remaining five activists have entered into a diversionary program offered by the District Attorney, which means that, after successful completion of the program, all of their charges will be dismissed.
“Our case and the recently revealed police body cam footage shows the desperation of the Atlanta Police Department and the State of Georgia, and the lengths they are willing to go to manipulate the criminal legal system to silence their opponents,” said Laurel Leckert, one of the defendants whose charges were dropped on October 24. “By dramatically overcharging and maliciously prosecuting us, the State tried to scare and intimidate people, thereby suppressing a political movement.”
Activists were at the GSU Convocation Center, a Brasfield & Gorrie work site at the time, to demand the company end its construction contract to build the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, dubbed “Cop City.” A multi-billion-dollar company, Brasfield & Gorrie is the lead contractor for Cop City and a donor to the Atlanta Police Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the APD, which has raised tens of millions of dollars to build Cop City.
Six of the seven defendants filed a federal lawsuit on July 28 against the City of Atlanta and both APD and GSU police officers, claiming malicious prosecution, retaliation for exercising their First Amendment rights, and unlawful seizure.
“Political speech is at the core of the First Amendment,” said Drago Cepar, a civil rights lawyer representing the group in the civil suit. “Freedom to think as you wish and to express those thoughts and opinions – no matter of their content – without the fear of prosecution has always been an essential part of the fabric of the US constitutional system and something this country has claimed to be proud of,” continued Cepar. “Now those values are threatened in a series of political prosecutions. If we don’t protect political speech – not much will soon be left of the First Amendment.”
The seven Stop Cop City activists were arrested in Atlanta, but are not part of the sweeping indictment against 61 other Cop City opponents who have been charged under Georgia’s RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) law. No one charged with RICO has gone to trial yet, but in September the Georgia Attorney General dropped all 15 counts of money laundering against three defendants who are organizers with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund.
Over 170 people have been arrested so far in connection with Cop City in Atlanta, including more than 40 activists who were arrested but not yet indicted under Georgia’s Domestic Terrorism law. Construction of the facility is ongoing while the city stalls efforts to let Atlanta voters decide on its fate through an ongoing legal appeal. The city has also re-imposed historically discriminatory qualification measures like signature matching to proactively inhibit the referendum process.
“We remain in solidarity with Stop Cop City activists still facing charges, especially the 61 facing RICO charges,” continued Leckert. “Our case illustrates the flimsy nature of the state’s prosecutions against all of us. Attorney General Chris Carr should end this charade and drop all of the charges against Stop Cop City activists.”
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For more information on the sweeping RICO criminal case and ways to support the defendants and the movement to Stop Cop City, go to: weelauneethefree.org.
