Woman sues city of Atlanta and 2 APD Officers, accusing officer of breaking her collarbone
By MARY SMITH
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FULTON County, GA (WGCL) — A woman is suing the city and two of its officers after she says she broke her collarbone when an APD officer slammed her to the ground. She and her lawyers say they have the video to prove it.
It happened during the first night of protests in May 2020 near Lenox Mall. “We said it was a month of reckoning and we will be true to our word,” said one of Amber Jackson’s Attorneys, Mawuli Davis of the Davis Bozeman Law Firm. The firm announced the lawsuit Friday at a press conference at its offices in Decatur. The lawsuit names the city of Atlanta along with two of its officers; Cody Swanger and Jeremiah Brandt. They say Swanger injured Jackson that night. “The city of Atlanta had a widespread and persistent practice and pattern of not investigating claims of excessive force,” said another attorney for Jackson, Harold Spence. Jackson says that night she moved a barricade to leave the area after searching for a protest to join. Police approached the vehicle, driven by her fiancé. “This shouldn’t have happened. It shouldn’t happen to no one, it shouldn’t happen to me,” she said at Friday’s press conference. CBS 46 obtained body camera video of the incident and the police report. It says officers saw a Nissan driving fast through the parking lot while people were looting at the mall. It then says officers pulled the car over and when stopped, Jackson got out to move the barricade before hopping back in the passenger side. The report says an officer told her to stop but she closed the door. The woman who shot the cell phone video, Heather Upham, recalls what she saw that night. “I did hear them tell her to get out of the car and her male companion and they were cooperating from what I could tell.” The lawsuit says police did not locate any looted items with Jackson and her fiancé. Atlanta Police says both officers still have their normal positions within the department. It also says it does not comment on pending litigation.
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