Atlanta Police officer charged in tasing of college students was named in prior excessive force lawsuit

CNN — One of the six Atlanta police officers charged last week after allegedly using excessive force on two college students was named in a lawsuit over a 2016 shootingduring a police raidthat killed a mentally ill man. However, when the firearm was recovered, it was damaged and inoperable.” The complaint does not name the officers who fired, reading “one or more defendants began ‘spraying’ bullets.” In January 2018, Robinson’s mother filed a civil rights lawsuit against several officers, the City of Atlanta, and surrounding municipalities for excessive force, wrongful death, battery, and violating Robinson’s rights under the Fourth Amendment, among other charges. One of the officers named as a defendant in the complaint filed by Robinson’s mother is Atlanta Police Officer William Sauls. Vince Champion, the southeast regional director of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers who is representing Sauls in the Pilgrim and Young case, told CNN while he understands there may be questions about Officer Sauls’ performance in past cases that might indicate some kind of pattern, “it’s two totally different incidents.” “You can’t compare those now, today, because we haven’t had investigation on the second one to even know if they’re related in any way,” Champion said.