Atlanta police chief walks tightrope as she handles protests

ATLANTA — Atlanta’s police chief quickly condemned the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and acted swiftly when she determined some of her own officers used excessive force, but now she’s questioning a further crackdown on her officers. “This does not mean for a moment that I will sit quietly by and watch our employees get swept up in the tsunami of political jockeying during an election year.” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, meanwhile, announced Wednesday on Twitter that she would establish a commission to look at the city’s use of force policies. Explaining her decision to immediately fire Investigator Ivory Streeter and Investigator Mark Gardner, she said she’d expected the videos to show the officers’ actions were justified, “given the environment we find ourselves in; one that is highly dangerous and unpredictable.” But it became “apparent we were in the wrong,” she wrote, adding “we created chaos and we escalated a low-level encounter into a space where we introduced violence.” She said her intention was to carry out an administrative investigation into the actions of the other officers, and that “criminal charges were never part of any discussion that I had with the Mayor or her administration.” When she learned of the criminal cases Monday, she contacted the district attorney and “strongly expressed my concern, both to the appropriateness and the timing of any charges.” Now, Shields wrote, she’s “very concerned with the space we find ourselves in, both tactically and emotionally.” “Multiple agencies that were assisting us in managing this incredibly volatile time have pulled out, effective immediately,” she said. “They are not comfortable with their employees being leveraged politically by the potential of also facing criminal charges.” She wrapped up her email by telling her officers she feels it’s important they know what’s going on “if there is any chance of us navigating our current state safely.” Howard became district attorney in January 1997, the first black person elected district attorney in Georgia. “In this case, the evidence was there, it was available.” Attorney Lance LoRusso defended Streeter and Gardner in a statement Wednesday, writing that the rush to fire the officers violates policies and the law, and charges brought without a full investigation “should raise concerns.” Officers were pelted with debris and fireworks Saturday night, and gunshots were common, he wrote.